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In the second semifinal, a dominant Australia steamrolled Germany 3-0 to enter the final of the 2017 FIH Hockey World League Final held at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar.
The spectators were in for some crisp hockey as the Germans and Australians tackled each other head on. Neither side was ready to budge even an inch. The two teams got many opportunities but the defence on either side remained solid. The first two quarters did not produce even a single goal.
Even for the first ten minutes of the third quarter, the stalemate continued until Dylan Wortherspoon broke the deadlock with a splendid field goal to hand Australia a 1-0 lead. From that moment onwards, the dynamics of the game changed completely as the Kookaburras got on top of Germany's back-line.
Despite their best attempts, Germany could not find the back of the net. Only three minutes into the final quarter, Australia doubled their woes when Jeremy Hayward converted a penalty corner into a brilliant goal.
With no choice but to throw caution to the wind, Germany came out all guns blazing. They even resorted to the risk of pulling out their goalkeeper Tobias Walter in favour of a kicking full-back.
Germany's efforts did not go to waste as they received back to back penalty corners. However, Australia's goal-keeper Tristan Clemons was up to the challenge and denied Germany on both occasions.
Despite possessing the ball for the better part of the match, the Germans failed to create any sort of pressure on the Australian side. In the final seconds of the game, a wrong deflection left the goalpost completely open and all Tom Wickham had to do was to push the ball into the net.
With their emphatic three-goal triumph, Australia entered their second consecutive final in the FIH Hockey World League Final. While they will play Argentina for the title at 1930 local time on Sunday, Germany will take on India for the third-place match at 1715 local time.
Meanwhile, in the fifth-place match on Saturday, Belgium salvaged some consolation by defeating Spain by a narrow 1-0 margin. Sebastian Dockier's goal turned out to be the difference between the two teams.
