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| September 15, 2006 | Friday | Sha'aban 21, 1427 |
Australia thrash Pakistan to win group
MONCHENGLADBACH (Germany), Sept 14: Australia, who have already qualified for the semi-finals, thrashed Pakistan 3-0 in the last round robin match to take top place in Pool ‘A’ with 12 points at World Cup hockey on Wednesday.
Bevan George slapped in rebounds off both of Australia's penalty corners after 14 minutes and 51 minutes and Jamie Dwyer scored a brilliant individual goal flicking over Salman Akbar from an acute angle less than a metre inside the backline three minutes before the break.
Sohail Abbas missed all five penalty corner chances to score for Pakistan.
“My team woke up in the second half and played well in the last 12 minutes,” said Shahnaz Sheikh, Pakistan's coach.
“We were tighter in defence and stopped Pakistan's flow in the midfield,” said Barry Dancer, Australia's coach.
“No players are injured and we are in a good position physically for the semi-finals,” Dancer said.
In Friday's semi-finals, Germany meet Spain and Australia play South Korea.
In the playoff for fifth to eighth place, New Zealand play England and Pakistan meet the Netherlands.
England beat South Africa 3-1 in the last Pool B match to put England in the playoff for fifth to eighth place.
Ian Symons got South Africa off to a bright start, converting their first penalty corner in the 10th minute and England came back with a deflection goal to James Tindall 11 minutes later.
Richard Mantell's two penalty corner conversions in the second half lifted England to the win.
The first looped inside the left post to hit the backboards and the second flew into the right of the net.
In the playoff for ninth to twelfth place, Argentina play India and South Africa meet Japan.
Points table: (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
Pool A
Australia 5 4 0 1 18 5 12
Spain 5 3 2 0 13 7 11
New Zealand 5 2 1 2 10 14 7
Pakistan 5 1 2 2 10 10 5
Argentina 5 1 1 3 5 12 4
Japan 5 1 0 4 7 15 3
Pool B
Germany 5 3 2 0 12 5 11
South Korea 5 3 2 0 8 5 11
Netherlands 5 3 1 1 16 9 10
England 5 2 0 3 10 10 7
South Africa 5 0 2 3 4 13 2
India 5 0 1 4 7 15 1.
—AFP
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