Aussies on mission in semis, Belgium face tough England
Eye on hat-trick, Kookaburras take on Dutch; Rio runners-up brace for surprise package
BHUBANESWAR: Out of the four teams playing in the semi-finals come Saturday, three — Australia, Netherlands and England — were also part of the last-four in the previous World Cup four years ago. Only Belgium, who will be playing their maiden semi-final, are the new entrants to the club.
Having finished runners-up in both the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2017 Eurohockey Nations Championship, the world No 3 outfit wants to go one better this time around.
But they will have a tough opponent in England, who, after stunning the reigning Olympic champions Argentina in the quarter-final stage, are eyeing their first final since the 1986 edition when they finished with a silver at home.
However, they could be without their most experienced player, Barry Middleton, after the veteran injured the middle finger of his right hand. The final decision will be taken before the match.
England reached the semi-final stage of the last two editions but want to be third time lucky and enter Sunday’s all-important summit clash.
However, the world No 7 outfit are taking this like any other game and not as a semi-final.
“I don’t think we are making a big thing out of the semis. We’ll be doing what we have done in previous games. This is Belgium’s golden generation and they probably, in the bookies’ eyes, start favourites and understandably so,” said England coach Danny Kerry.
“They have a reputation and we have to respect that but not so much that we become passive. Looking forward to play against a leading team.
“They like to dominate the ball, something they have done against every team.”
AUSTRALIA TAKE ON NETHERLANDS
The second semi-final will be a titanic clash between two three-time champions and a repeat of the 2014 final where Australia triumphed 6-1, thrashing the Netherlands in their own backyard.
The holders Australia are looking for a ‘three-peat’ of World Cup success — the first team to claim a hat-trick of titles — and going by the way they have played till so far in this tournament here, the world No 1-ranked Australians are the team to beat. They also are the only side that has won all their matches so far.
“We have a very proud history with the Kookaburras. We work and train hard. We are fiercely competitive. Every tournament we go to we want to win,” said the two-time Commonwealth Games champion Daniel Beale, who will be playing his 150th international on Saturday, on Australia’s successful past. “We watched the match between Holland and India, learnt a lot from that and did our homework. It was an exciting game, very attacking and Holland were the better team on the day,” Beale added.
“Holland are a very tough team and we expect a very tough match,” he expressed.
Netherlands, who knocked out hosts India in the quarter-finals on Thursday night, are also eyeing nothing less than the title — their first since 1998.
Interestingly, Australia are the only team in the semis who made a direct entry to the quarter-finals while Belgium, England and the Netherlands took the crossover route after failing to qualify directly for the last-eight.