Australia defeated South Korea 5-3, Argentina and Germany drew 2-2 while the Netherlands defeated Spain 3-1 on the first day of the men's Champions Trophy field hockey tournament here Saturday. Australia controlled the first 15 minutes of each half to score all five goals through Eli Matheson, David Guest, Jamie Dwyer, Andrew Smith and Liam de Young.
"Overall we are pleased with the result although the areas we need to improve are our conversion of our chances in the circle," said Australian coach Barry Dancer. "Korea showed us some questions marks or two in the second half and they are a team to reckon with so I am relieved they are not in our pool at the Olympics."
Timo Wess' conversion of Germany's sixth penalty corner in the last minutes saved World Cup winners Germany the embarrassment of a loss to seventh ranked Argentina. The 2-2 draw indicates Germany still has more to do before Beijing. Florian Keller converted Germany's first penalty corner, flicking low inside the left post after six minutes.
Argentina came back with goals on both sides of the break by Matias Paredes and Rodrigo Vila, threatening to take the upset win for the last 15 minutes. Argentina coach Carlos Retegui believes his team is set on a new course to qualify for the next World Cup through the Pan American Games next March.
"We have not qualified for the Beijing Olympics so we have set ourselves a new objective to qualify for the next World Cup and to do that by playing more as a team, using the skills we have to play collectively," Retegui said. Germany coach Markus Weise was not satisfied with his team's performance. On Sunday, Argentina play Australia, Spain meet South Korea and Netherlands take on Germany.
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