England reached their first Champions Trophy final on Saturday thanks to a last-gasp 4-3 win over New Zealand and were to tackle title-holders Australia in yesterday’s trophy showdown.
England, whose previous best finish was fifth in 1999 and 2001, had started the day in fourth spot in the six-team table with either Germany or Spain better placed to reach the final.
However, they ground out victory over New Zealand for their second win of the tournament to finish with seven points, while the Netherlands defeated Germany 1-0 to leave the hosts on six points.
Australia finished the group stage with a perfect five from five record thanks to a 3-1 win over Spain.
England had New Zealand on the back foot from the first push back allowing James Tindall to score in the first 20 seconds, the country’s fastest Champions Trophy goal.
Andrew Hayward converted New Zealand’s sixth penalty corner and brought New Zealand back into contention at 3-3, flicking New Zealand’s eighth penalty corner inside the right post with five minutes to play.
England pressed for the winning goal in the last two minutes, earning a penalty corner, converted by Richard Smith’s flick.
New Zealand claimed a video referral for an infringement by England as the siren sounded. The video was inconclusive and New Zealand lost the chance to convert one last penalty corner to equalize.
Mink van der Weerden broke the hearts of the near-capacity crowd by converting his first penalty corner for the only score of the match to deny Germany a place in the final. Germany coach Markus Weise saw an intense match with missed opportunities from his team’s seven failed penalty corners.
“It was not a match with great quality as both teams needed to win, which usually leads to a game like this,” Weise said.
Australia ensured Spain missed out on the final. Jason Wilson celebrated his 20th birthday with Australia’s first goal before Pau Quemada replied in the last seconds of the first half, deflecting in a drive from Santi Freixa.
Russell Ford and Des Abbott combined for Australia’s second goal and Abbott deflected in a low penalty corner flick from Luke Doerner in the second half.
Australia coach Ric Charlesworth said that in the final he was looking for a vast improvement on the group game where his team edged England 3-2.
“We came to play in the final and now we know we are playing England we will be looking to improve on our poor performance in the pool round when we played badly in the second half,” he said.
Yesterday, Germany and the Netherlands were to meet again to play for bronze, while Spain and New Zealand were to clash to avoid relegation from next year’s Champions Trophy in India.
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