Craig Victory scored a golden goal 11 minutes into extra-time to give Australia a thrilling 4-3 triumph over South Korea in the final of the 14th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup here on Sunday. Victory turned in Grant Schubert's cross from the right to complete an amazing comeback for the Olympic champions, who fought back from 3-1 down to claim their second successive title.
The Aussies beat second-half kings Korea at their own game, showing more finesse and determination in the final quarter to overturn a two-goal deficit and force extra time.
"I think the last 40 minutes we proved our fitness, our composure and our confidence to come back and respond to a challenge," said Australian coach Barry Dancer, whose team drew 3-3 with Korea in group play last week.
"This team has showed that they have the ability to consistently come back with composure as well as work rate.
"I think Korea deserved to be leading at half-time but after their third goal they didn't really create that many chances. We put more pressure on them in the second half and all the players had a key role in this victory."
For Korean coach Cho Sung-jun, reaching the final itself was a major achievement. His team only earned a place in the title match after tournament favourites Pakistan lost to Malaysia 1-0 in their final group game on Friday.
"We were surprised to get into the final in the first place and we played our best, but Australia are a tough team and I'm happy with my players' performance," said Cho.
After Michael McCann gave Australia a ninth-minute lead with a field goal, the slick Koreans took control and turned the match with two quick goals just before the interval.
First, Lee Nam-yong converted a penalty corner in the 30th minute and soon afterwards, Seo Jong-ho scored from close range to make it 2-1 to Korea.
Striker Jang Jong-hyun scored Korea's third three minutes into the second half with a penalty corner.
Australia looked out of contention, easily losing possession and allowing the Korean players to pass and run at will.
But giant defender Luke Doerner brought the Kookaburras back to life with 17 minutes left when he slammed home a penalty corner.
McCann tied it nine minutes later with a deft deflection off Jamie Dwyer's shot from the top of the circle.
Australia finished strongly, despite having Liam De Young yellow-carded in the 66th minute, and forced Korean goalkeeper and man of the match Ko Dong-sik into two excellent saves in the dying moments.
The Aussies continued to dominate in extra-time, missing a number of chances. Although it was still 3-3 after the first period of seven and a half minutes, Victory spared them the ordeal of a penalty shootout with his 81st-minute winner.
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