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A goal struck in the dying minutes of the game by Blake Govers gave Australia their second consecutive crown at the FIH Hockey World League Finals 2017, as they defeated Argentina by 2-1 to clinch the winners' trophy at Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar.
Argentina, the current Olympic champions, had survived both the rain and the Indian challenge narrowly to meet Australia in the finals for their maiden attempt at the crown. Their thirst for the gold medal was visible as they attacked with complete zeal and gusto, denying the Australians an attempt at their goal throughout the first quarter. However, it subsided for a while, when only two minutes into the second quarter, Jeremy Hayward capitalized on a penalty corner to give Australia a lead of 1-0.
Argentina, down but not out, bounced back in style, when Augustin Bugallo flicked the ball smartly past the Australian goalkeeper Tristan Clemons in the very next minute, locking the score by 1-1, which stayed intact till half time.
In the third quarter, Australia decided to switch the goalkeepers, bringing on the field Tyler Lovell, which proved to be a boon for them later on. Both the teams attacked each other enthusiastically, however, none of them could manage to break the impasse created by Bugallo's goal.
The final quarter proved to be the decider when the Australian team went out all guns blazing, but so did Argentina. Like India, they received back to back three penalty corners. However, Lovell came to Australia's rescue, denying every strike from the Argentine side.
However, just when the match was looking to stretch out to a penalty shootout, Australia received another penalty corner, and this time, their star drag-flicker Blake Govers made no mistake, striking the goal in the 58th minute, sealing the fate of the match. Even though Argentina tried to bounce back, they were heartbroken, when a last-minute attempt by Juan Lopez missed the goalpost by inches, thanks to Lovell again.
With that, Australia have won their second consecutive FIH Hockey World League title and are the only team to have clinched the podium in every edition of the same, while Argentina have managed to climb up the podium for the first time in this tournament with the silver medal.
Apart from Australia, the only other team to have kept their podium finish intact from the previous edition have been the hosts India, who had earlier won the same medal in 2015 and had defeated Germany by 2-1 to clinch the bronze medal in this edition.
Following are the final standings in the FIH Hockey World League Finals:
- Australia [Winners]
- Argentina [Silver Medal]
- India [Bronze Medal]
- Germany
- Belgium
- Spain
- Netherlands
- England
