Olympic champions The Netherlands scored their second successive victory in the Champions Trophy hockey tournament, routing Australia 5-3 at the Wagener stadium on Sunday.
In an earlier match, Pakistan went tough several anxious moments after being 4-0 up at one stage to get the better of Argentina 6-5.
A goodly crowd turned up for the Australia-Netherlands match expecting some fireworks from the hosts, who are also defending champions, and the World Cup runners-up. After all, the Aussies had beaten the Dutch in the semi-finals of the last World Cup in Kuala Lumpur by a convincing 4-1 margin. However, in the end it, turned out to be an easy victory for the hosts.
Both teams adopted different styles of play. The Aussies used the short pass to advance while the Dutch repeatedly fed long though balls to unsettle the Aussie defence. On such long ball in the tenth minute brought about the hosts' first goal. Teun de Nooijer, who was the hub around which the Dutch functioned, picked up Matthijs Brouwer from a counter attack, and the last-named made no mistake with a first time shot.
Immediately the Aussies had a chance to restore parity, but Grant Schubert, who snatched the equaliser in the 4-4 draw against Pakistan on Saturday, had the mortification of seeing his deflection go over the bar.
With Nooijer marshalling the midfield to perfection and splitting the Aussie defence with good promptings, it was only a matter of time that the Dutch would score again. And they did in the 22nd minute, when he found enough space for Karel Klaver to finish.
The Aussies made a couple of incursions and were rerwarded for their efforts five minutes from the breather when Nathan Eglington picked up a defence-splitting through from Michael McCann and scored with a stiff shot.
On the receiving end for much of the first half, the Aussies were expected to lift their game after that goal and put up a better show in the second. But they conceded their third goal five minutes on resumption and were always struggling thereafter.
Rob Reckers made it 3-1, finishing on a cross by Piet Hein Geeris on the left touchline in the 40th minute before Taeke Taekema could make it 4-1 from a penalty-corner in the 46th and Bram Lomans add another four minutes later from a penalty-stroke.
The Aussies pulled one back (2-5) in the 52nd minute from a penalty-corner when Mathew Wells sounded the board with a crisp shot. And with five minutes to go Dean Butler rised visions of a fightback, like the one witnessed yesterday in the India - Holland match, scoring from a breakaway move to make it 3-5. But that was all the seven-time champions could manage though they pressed hard upfront. The Dutch held possesion and kept moving the ball around the back in the last five minutes for a well-earned victory.
Match summary:
Netherlands: 5 (Matthijs Brouwer, Karel Klaver, Rob Reckers, Taeke Taekema, Bram Lomans) beat Australia 3 (Nathan Egglington, Matthew Wells, Dean Butler).
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