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The Australian Hockeyroos will begin their Rio Olympic Games campaign with a tough match against bronze medal winners from London and the world’s seventh-ranked team Great Britain. Join The Roar for live scores and coverage from 9:30pm (AEST).
While England are ranked seventh in the world, the Great Britain team formed for the Olympics actually has more talent to choose from, meaning this isn’t an accurate reflection.
Given the Australian side are only a few places ahead of them sitting third, the pressure will be right and there is no question both sides will be expecting respective victories.
Looking at their group makes this an even more important contest. While there should still be room for both of these sides to advance out of the group stages, the likes of Argentina, the United States of America and even the ninth-ranked Japan could cause problems.
That being said, the winner of this match increases their chance of qualification exponentially. A high finish is also important to avoid the Netherlands in the quarter-final who will likely top Group A.
The Australian team will be heavily reliant on their midfield combination of captain Madonna Blyth and Teneal Attard who both have over 200 games experience with Blyth being one of the most capped players in history.
Australia will expect to play quite an aggressive style and get Great Britain on the back foot from the outset, which will be easier said than done however making the most of their opportunities will be key.
Qualifying as England will undoubtedly be a disadvantage for Great Britain, but they still did a strong job in that tournament.
In saying that, after a great effort to win Bronze at London in 2012, they haven’t done a lot on the world stage finishing bottom of their group at the 2014 world cup.
Still, they were very strong in qualification through the European stages, beating the Netherlands on penalties in the final which was a monumental effort.
Certainly, in terms of experience England are well behind Australia but in Lili Owsley, they have a very good attacker who has proven time and time again she can step up under pressure. Joined by Alex Danson up front, they have a very strong attack line.
With the experience of Crista Cullen in the defensive line, Australia may find it hard to score, however with their midfield they should be able to set up enough opportunities.
Prediction
Australia have a wealth of experience and talent in their squad, and they have played good hockey since London making the final of the world cup in 2014 while Great Britain have gone backwards, and it could take them a game or two to gel as a squad.
Australia 4-2.
Please join The Roar for live coverage of the Hockeyroos first game at the 2016 Rio Olympics from 9:30am (AEST) and don’t forget to add your own comments below.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde