Defending champs Australia beat England 3-0 in WC

Reigning world champions Australia made it two wins from two Pool B matches on the seventh day of action at the Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup Bhubaneswar 2018, finishing first in the pool and earning the automatic ticket to the quarter-finals that comes with it.  Australia defeated England 3-0 but were not immediately confirmed as the pool winners, something that was settled by the result of the match that immediately followed. China, the lowest ranked team in the pool, claimed their second successive draw of the competition against Ireland, a result which meant that Australia stayed four points clear of all teams in the pool and therefore uncatchable. England and Australia could not be separated in the first two quarters of their Pool B meeting, with both sides having good chances to break the deadlock. The goalkeepers excelled, with England’s George Pinner making two fine penalty corner blocks to deny the Kookaburras before Tyler Lovell pulled off a miraculous stick save from Mark Gleghorne’s penalty corner drag-flick to deflect the ball over his own crossbar. Australia’s Blake Govers and Phil Roper of England also went close; Govers firing just wide of the target with a spin-shot before Roper clipped the outside of the Australia goal after some great build-up play from Liam Ansell. Australia were the better team in the third quarter but were thwarted by some solid defensive work from England. However, their resistance was ended by two quick Australian goals in the fourth quarter. Jake Whetton found the bottom left corner of Pinner’s goal with a pinpoint accurate slapshot in the 47thminute before Blake Govers smashed home a second three minutes later. A 3-0 score-line was completed four minutes from full time by Corey Weyer, who rattled the backboard with a low backhand effort to give Australia Head Coach Colin Batch his second win from two matches.   Like the Australia versus England match, the contest between Ireland and China remained scoreless throughout the first two quarters. The Green Machine had the better of the two periods, showing patience in the build-up but failing to strike that killer blow in the China circle. Shane O’Donoghue went close on two occasions, while Matthew Nelson had arguably the best chance of the half when he fired a backhand effort into the side of the China goal after being forced wide by an opposition defender.  Ireland continued to pressurise the China goal, with Alan Sothern shaving the post before a dramatic final three minutes of the third period. A yellow card five-minute suspension to Ireland’s Jonathan Bell was followed by the opening goal of the match, with China being the beneficiaries. Guo Jin finished off a beautifully worked penalty corner routine with a glorious high finish that went in off the left post to give China a shock 1-0 lead. Incredibly, Ireland – still down to ten players – found the perfect response, with Sothern diving in to touch home Michael Robson’s perfect backhand pass from left field.Shane O’Donoghue had a chance to win it with a late penalty corner drag-flick, but China goalkeeper WANG Caiyu made a fine save to ensure that his team remain unbeaten in Bhubaneswar. Even more remarkably, a win for either England or Ireland in their meeting on 7 December will put China through to the knock-out stages.The result I am very satisfied with”, said China Head Coach Kim Sang Ryul. “We are still unbeaten, but our play is not good enough so I am still not satisfied. Our mentality is that we are still trying to win. We will try to show our abilities against Australia.”