Aus on mission in semis, Belgium face England
FINAL LEG Eyeing hat-trick, Aus take on Dutch; Belgium keen to go the distance
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 reigning Olympic champions Argentina in the quarters, are eyeing their first final since the 1986 edition when they finished with a silver at home.
MIDDLETON INJURED
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 semis 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.”
AUSSIES VS DUTCH
The second semi-final will be a titanic clash between two threetime champions and a repeat of the 2014 final where Australia triumphed 6-1, thrashing Netherlands in their own home.
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 now, the world No 1 are the team to beat and the only ones who have won all their matches yet.
“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 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.
“Holland are a very tough team and we expect a very tough match.”
EYEING TITLE
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 directly qualify for the last-8.