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The Kookaburras already have one record under their belts and now have a score to settle against an old foe in hockey’s World Cup, when they play Spain on Saturday night (AEDT) in New Delhi.
Australia’s 12-0 thrashing of South Africa in the third of their five pool matches was the biggest victory in World Cup history, and has them second on the table, and with easily the best goal difference of their group.
The top two sides of six go through to the semi-finals.
It was Spain who denied the Kookaburras the chance to play for gold at the Beijing Olympics, when they won their semi-final 3-2 and relegated Australia to the play-off for bronze, which they won.
Australia and Spain (third) are locked on two wins from three games, which means the loser of Saturday night’s match could be scrambling to reach the semi-finals if table-leading England beat host nation India on Sunday morning (AEDT) and seal a semi-final berth.
Australian midfielder Rob Hammond said the Kookaburras were confident entering the cut-throat stage of the tournament, and keen to make amends for their narrow loss to Spain at the Olympics.
“For us motivation is always high whenever we play one of the sides in the top six in the world,” Hammond told AAP on Friday.
“I wouldn’t say this is a grudge game, but in past games there were lessons learned and a few guys are hoping to right the mistakes from back then.”
Australia’s game against South Africa turned into a goalfest after an even opening, as the African champions threw everything against the Kookaburras chasing an early goal.
But Australian defender Luke Doerner opened the scoring with a converted penalty corner in the 16th minute, and finished the game’s leading scorer, with five goals.
Glenn Turner and Jamie Dwyer both scored twice and Des Abbott, Fergus Kavanagh and Matthew Butturini all chipped in with goals.
Hammond said Australia were pleased with their efficiency in attack, which avenged their opening defeat to England, when they squandered numerous opportunities.
“We should have beaten them (England) but just didn’t convert well enough, but the big focus is we have great trust in each other and in our game style and now we’ve got to execute well because we’ll be devastated if we don’t reach the semi-finals,” he said.
In other games on day five, England continued their good form with a 5-2 win over Pakistan and Spain readied themselves for the clash against the Kookaburras with a 5-2 win over India.
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