Spain have no answers to Australian masterclass
Australia made it two out of two with a 3-0 victory over Spain: the pool A match providing a masterclass in fast, skilful hockey. The tempo and mood of the game was set from the whistle as Rob Hammond picked up a loose ball, jinked his way past the Spanish defence and found his teammate, Timothy Deavin (2′), who put the ball away with aplomb. The subsequent goal celebration – which Deavin explained away with a sheepish “well I don’t score very often” – marked the start of a combative game between the two hockey nations.
Spain struggled to come to terms with the pace and strength of the reigning champions in the first half, and for a while it looked as if the Kookaburras were going to run up a cricket score. The technical ability and strength of the Australians, both on the ball and when seeking a turnover, was on a different level to their European rivals. Talking about that first 35 minute onslaught, Ramon Alegre said: “We had lost the game in the first 20 minutes. You don’t come back against Australia from that sort of scoreline.”
Mark Knowles (10′) doubled the lead on the 10 minute mark, when a penalty corner strike hit defender Bosco Perez-Pla on the line. The captain stepped up to dispatch it past the Spanish ‘keeper Quico Cortes. A second penalty stroke was awarded 10 minutes later as Ramon Alegre found himself in the firing line but this time Knowles’ shot ricocheted off the crossbar and Spain could breathe a sigh of relief. The game settled into a pattern of wave after wave of attack from the world number 1 team, with some staunch defending from the Red Sticks, but little in the way of counter-attack.
The coup de grace for Spain was administered by Keiran Govers (33′) who rocketed in a penalty corner with two minutes of the first half remaining.
Although Spain came out fighting in the second half and pushed the green and gold team back into a more defensive mode, the fact that they had only two shots on target during the entire 70 minutes was an indication of the Australian dominance during this game.
There were no goals in a second half that was notably less high tempo than the previous 35 minutes. This was a point picked up by Deavin: “We took our foot off the pedal in the second half; that can happen when you have a lead and it is something we need to look at.” Explaining his team’s explosive start to the game, Deavin added: “We lost our second matches in both previous Olympics, so this was something we wanted to address.”
Speaking after the game, the Spanish coach Salvador Indurian said: “The level we played in the first half meant we were well beaten in the first half. The second half was more even. We were unable to make connections between players for the first 20 minutes and that was a problem. But now we need to start preparing for the next match.”
The captain Santi Freixa added: “I think that today Australia gave us a lesson in playing productive hockey and taking advantage of the space we let them have.”
Addressing the question of the goalless second half and whether the Kookaburras had taken their foot off the pedal purposely, Australian coach Ric Charlesworth said: “I think that you preserve energy best by keeping the ball and we didn’t keep the ball in the second half. There was nothing energy-preserving in that performance. This is one of the easiest tournaments from that respect as we now have a two game break.”
Official Match Report (PDF)