Hockey World Cup 2018: 3 reasons why Australia won against China

Defending champions Australia made a mockery of China’s reputation by beating them 11-0 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Friday evening.

World Cup debutant China earned respects from all quarters after their performance in the last two matches.

But ruthless Australians annihilated their opponents with ease and the Chinese players are on the brink of elimination from the World Cup.

Australia dominated their opponents right from the start and scored goals on every quarter of the match.

Blake Govers scored a hat-trick and became the top scorer of the World Cup. Tim Brand scored a brace along six other players who registered their name on the score sheet.

It was Govers who opened the scoring from a penalty corner at the 10th minute. After that, it was raining goals at Bhubaneswar with the crowd enjoying every one of it.

Apart from Govers and Brand, Aran Zalewski, Tom Craig, Jeremy Hayward, Jake Whetton, Dylan Wotherspoon and Flynn Ogilivie scored for Australia.

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#3 No mistakes throughout the match

Australia were patchy in their opening match against Ireland. The usual rhythm in their hockey was not there and allowed their opponents on some occasions to dominate them.

They rectified their mistakes and won comfortably against England. On Friday against China, the Kookaburras showed their character as they triumphed their way into quarter-finals.

Throughout the game, they have not committed a single mistake which could allow the opposition to stage a comeback. Teams often get complacent towards the end of the match after scoring so many goals.

But Australia are so different from others. They wanted to keep a clean sheet till the final hooter.

During the fourth quarter, Matt Dawson dived inside the circle to keep away a brilliant pass from one of the Chinese players, which was dangerous and could’ve ended up being a goal.

For the first time in the match, China were dominating possession midway in the fourth quarter but rock-solid defence from Australia players averted any kind of danger.

#2 Poor Chinese defence made the task easier for Aussies

Chinese players committed too many mistakes inside the circle to allow Australia more circle penetrations

China came with so much promise and talents in this tournament. Nobody had given them a chance. But China exceeded expectations and earned one point each from higher ranked opponents Ireland and England.

They have earned admirations from all quarters for their performance in the last two matches.

But Australia presented a different test for them and the inexperienced bunch failed miserably. Chinese players couldn’t keep their emotions under control and as time went on, they lost their grip from the match.

Chinese players committed too many mistakes inside the circle to allow Australia more circle penetrations.

They opened up spaces for Australian players unknowingly and the World No. 1 team utilised the opportunity fully. Their tackles were not effective at all and lost ball possession too many times.

Their defence against penalty corners too was woeful. Blake Govers faced no real problem converting the two PCs.

#1 Complete Australian show right from the start

The early domination put more pressure on China and at one point of time they were looking clueless and lacking confidence

There were not many expectations from the match. China will lose and Australia will make it three in three was obvious. But still, spectators turned up at the stadium expecting a rain of goals and were more than satisfied after the match.

Though China were a weak an opponent for them, Australia didn’t take them easily. The Kookaburra's dominated their opponent’s right from the start.

From the first second, they’ve made an indication of picking up an early goal. They got it in the 10th minute thanks to a brilliant penalty corner conversion by Govers.

But match went on to become bad to worse from China as Australia kept scoring goals on regular intervals.

The early domination put more pressure on China and at one point of time they were looking clueless and lacking confidence.

Australia dominated from every angle, not just one side or the other. They stretched Chinese defence wide and the likes of Govers, Zalewski and Brand had a free run.

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