Desmond Abbott scored two goals to lead Australia to a 2-1 win over Pakistan on Monday and to top spot in Pool B of the men’s field hockey World Cup.
Australia, losing finalist in the last two World Cups in 2002 and 2006, topped the pool standings on goal difference after finishing level with England on 12 points from five matches.
England lost their last pool match 2-0 to Spain but still qualified for the World Cup semi-finals for the first time in 24 years.
Pakistan opened the scoring on Mondayin the 24th minute on a penalty corner conversion by Sohail Abbas.
“We tried out reserve players, because an opportunity was there to test them before the semi-finals,” Australia captain Jamie Dwyer said.
“It’s nice to finish on top of the pool, and now the semi-final will be a different competition,” he said.
Australia and England were to discover their semi-final opponents after yesterday’s last round of matches in Pool A, where four teams — two-time defending champion Germany, the Netherlands, South Korea and New Zealand are all in the running for semi-final berths.
Spain finished third in Pool B with nine points.
GOAL DIFFERNCE
Hosts India were held to a 3-3 draw by South Africa and both teams finished on four points in the pool, but India finished in fourth spot ahead of their opponent thanks to a better goal difference.
India’s goals came through Sarwanjit Singh, Diwakar Ram and Shivendra Singh, while South Africa’s scorers were Lloyd Norris-Jones, Justin Reid-Ross and Austin Smith.
Pakistan finished bottom of the pool with three points.
Spain’s goals against England came through Pau Quemada’s penalty corner conversion in the 35th minute and Eduard Tubau’s open-play strike in the 64th minute.
“We were tactically and mentally better than England and scored first, which was an advantage,” Spanish coach Dani Martin said.
“We didn’t play to our potential in this tournament. The defeat against Pakistan spoiled our chances,” he said.
Despite advancing to the semi-finals, England captain Barry Middleton was disappointed with the loss to Spain.
“We let our standards slip,” Middleton said. “We let ourselves down and didn’t play to our energy levels.”
England coach Jason Lee said Spain were technically superior.
ONE OFF
“Spain are a good side and today they were better in terms of technical play,” said Lee. “It would have been nice to win all matches, but we hope that it was one off. We’re disappointed, but are ready for any team in the semi-finals.”
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