Australia survive Ireland threat
Defending champions, chasing hattrick of world titles, given mighty scare by minnows in opener
BHUBANESWAR: Considering past World Cup performances and their respective world rankings, defending champions Australia were expected to sweep aside Ireland in their opening Pool B match at the hockey World Cup, here on Friday.
However, Australia were made to huff and puff against a team ranked nine rungs below them before winning 2-1. Much was expected from the team seeking a hat-trick of titles, but it was the efforts of Ireland that got the spectators’ applause.
For Australia, Friday’s match will be a wake-up call. Half of their side is playing for the first time in the World Cup, with the aim of preparing them for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, but if they want to stay in title contention, they will have to work more on their forward line, which failed to make much of an impression.
“Ireland played well and gave us a tough challenge. We are happy that we won the match, but at the same time we need to fix some of the areas where we didn’t perform well in today’s match,” Australia goalkeeper Andrew Charter said after the match.
On the other hand, Ireland skipper David Harte was not satisfied with the outcome of the match. “There was no pressure on us playing against the defending champions. Somehow despite playing good hockey, we lost. It’s a disappointment for us,” he said.
Because it would be impossible to stop Australia from scoring, Ireland realised the best way was to attack and confine them towards the back.
Australia forced the first penalty corner in the 11th minute. Blake Govers was not successful, but his flick led to another penalty corner, which he converted. Two minutes later, however, Ireland pulled off the equaliser through Eugene Magee.
Australia then took the lead back in the 33rd minute with Timothy Brand finding the net.
DEBUTANT CHINA HOLD ENGLAND TO A DRAW
Appearing in their maiden World Cup, China impressed everyone by playing out a 2-2 draw against Commonwealth Games bronze medallists England on Friday.
A day before the tie, England coach Danny Kerry had admitted that his side didn’t have much of an idea about their opponents as they hadn’t seen them play much.
China didn’t even compete in the 2018 Asian Games. He was a bit apprehensive that China might catch them unware and it exactly unfolded in the same manner on Friday.
Guo Xiaoping had earned the Chinese the lead in the very fifth minute but England bounced back through Mark Gleghorne nine minutes later. Liam Ansell had then earned England the lead but Talake Du equalised from a penalty corner in the dying minutes of the match.