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It was a replay of the 2014 World Cup final as the top-ranked team in the world; Australia took on the high flying Dutch.
Netherlands had beaten Indian by a narrow margin of 2-1 while Australia had outclassed France in their respective quarter-finals. The match turned out to be an absolute thriller.
The Aussies started the game strongly but failed to find the back of the net. The opening goal came in the ninth minute from the unlikeliest of sources as Glenn Schuurman deflected De Geus shot past keeper Andrew Charter to give the Dutch a 1-0 lead.
That lead was doubled in the 20th minute by Seve Van Ass whose shot was deflected into his own goal by Tim Howard.
The Aussies kept on piling pressure on Holland from there on in but Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak stood strong.
However, he was finally beaten by Tim Howard’s shot in the 44th minute. The Aussies took off their goalie in a bid to pile more pressure on the Dutch and the move finally paid dividends as Eddie Ockenden scored in the dying seconds of the game.
In the shootout, both teams missed two times each but the Aussies succumbed in sudden death as Blaak saved Beale’s attempt to send the Dutch fans into raptures.
#3 Tim Brand (Australia)
Timothy Brand should consider himself a bit unlucky as he turned in a great display for the Aussies but still ended up on the losing side.
The 19-year-old forward was a constant threat for the Dutch and created plenty of opportunities for his teammates. His reverse flick shot was kept out by Blaak in the 20th minute. Brand delivered a brilliant pass to Ogilvie in the 51st minute who failed to beat Blaak.
His miss in the penalty shootout doesn’t take away the fact that he was the best Aussie player on the pitch during the whole match. Tim Brand, along with Aran Zalewski stood out for the Aussies in the World Cup.
#2 Jeroen Hertzberger (Netherlands)
The star forward from the Netherlands had the game of his life. Hertzberger played like a man possessed and was the most vocal point of Dutch side's attacks.
His speed on the counter attacks to go along with his fancy stick work caused several headaches to the Australian defence.
Hertzberger created a brilliant opening for Robbert Kemperman in the 23rd minute but the latter couldn’t take full advantage of it.
His brilliant run combined with an exceptional spin in the 40th minute earned his team a penalty corner. Hertzberger looked vibrant throughout and won two penalty corners for his team. In the shootouts as well, Hertzberger was on top of his game.
He began proceedings for the Dutch in the shootout and scored off a rebound from Andrew Charter.
The man with nerves of steel was called upon once again in sudden death and didn’t disappoint the Dutch fans as he rolled the goalkeeper to score the match-winner for the Netherlands.
#1 Pirmin Blaak (Netherlands)
The Dutch goalie, Pirmin Blaak, looked a bit jittery in the game against India. But Blaak brought out his ‘A’ game against the reigning World Champions.
Had it not been for his brilliance between the posts, Australia would have won the game by a hefty margin.
First, he saved a penalty corner in the 19th minute of the game with a strong left hand. Later on, Blaak made a brilliant triple save in the 26th minute with Timothy Brand and Tim Howard failing to beat the Dutchman.
In the final stages of the game, Blaak first denied Flynn Ogilvie at point blank and then stopped a fierce flick from Blake Govers with just two minutes left on the clock.
He was a bit unlucky to concede the equalizer in the dying seconds of the game courtesy an unfortunate deflection of Glenn Schuurman.
However, Blaak didn’t let the disappointment of a late equalizer bother him as he produced a brilliant save in the sudden death to deny Daniel Beale and book a place for the Dutch in the final of the World Cup.
He was rightly declared the Man of the Match for his stupendous performance.
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