World champions Australia advanced to the last four by hammering Pakistan 7-0 on Tuesday to move to the top of Pool A. The Netherlands defeated South Korea 4-2 to top their Olympic Games hockey pool with a fifth successive win which also allowed defending champions Germany to enter the semi-finals. The other spot from this group will be decided after the match between hosts Great Britain and Spain, who were silver medallists in the 2008 Olympics.
Britain, who have eight points, need just a draw to advance, but a Spanish victory will put them in second position in the pool with 10 points. Pakistan had no answer for the pace set by Australia for whom six players featured among the scorers. Liam de Young opened the scoring with a penalty corner in the second minute, followed by a deft penalty stroke by Mark Knowles that put Australia 2-0 up in the sixth minute.
Christopher Ciriello then scored twice with a 29th minute penalty corner conversion and a field goal in the 34th as Australia seized a 4-0 lead at half-time. The second session saw Russell Ford (42nd), Jamie Dwyer (48th) and Glenn Turner (70th) shoot on target to complete Pakistan's rout. "We had plans to defend and counter-attack, but early goals opened up the game for us," said Australian coach Ric Charlesworth. "The finishing needs to be clinical and crisp. It needs more work even though I'm happy with the improvement."