Defending champions The Netherlands scored from quick counterattacks to beat Australia 4-2 in the final of the Champions Trophy hockey tournament and emerge winners for the seventh time, equalling Australia's seven victories in the event and just one step behind Germany, who have eight titles.
In a rousing final at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen, near Amsterdam, on Sunday evening before a sellout crowd, the Dutch exploited yawning gaps in the Australian defence to emerge deserving winners.
In earlier matches on the concluding day of the elite six-nation tournament, Pakistan beat India 4-3 to win the bronze medal, while Argentina beat Germany 2-1 to take fifth place.
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As compared to their 5-3 defeat against the Dutch in the league phase, Australia came up with an improved display on Sunday. With good backing from their half line of captain Paul Gaudoin, Brent Livermore and Adam Commens, they controlled play for much of the match, but paid the penalty for allowing the Dutch too much space to manoeuvre upfront.
In fact, the hosts were lucky to go into the breather a goal up. Had their goalkeeper Guus Vogels not come up with some good saves to thwart Troy Elder and Mike McCann, the scoreline may well have been 3-2 in Australia's favour.
The Dutch went ahead in the 24th minute through Matthijs Brouwer from a free hit. Jeroen Delmee's long hit into the circle had the Aussie defence watching as Brouwer got into position to deflect the ball into the net past goalkeeper Mark Hickman.
But the Aussies drew level within three minutes from their fourth penalty corner, which immediately followed their third, when Craig Victory did well to tap home the rebound after Elder's flick from the top of the circle had been saved by a prostrate Vogels.
With vociferous backing from the partisan crowd, the hosts pressed hard and regained their lead in the 30th minute with Piet Hein Geeris scoring with a reverse hit.
The Aussies forced two quick penalty corners minutes before the breather, but found Vogels hard to beat.
A goal in arrears, Australia set a scorching pace on resumption in the second half, but a disciplined showing by the Dutch midfield and defence denied them success. But the men from Down Under managed to restore parity in the 60th minute from their seventh penalty corner despite being down to 10 men after Matthew Wells had been temporarily suspended. This time Elder, who had been unsuccessful in his previous attempts, beat Vogels with a high flick to the roof of the net.
But Australia paid the penalty for some sloppy play. For the second time in the match they conceded a goal immediately after scoring. Two minutes after drawing level, they failed to cut off a long hit on the left and Teun de Nooijer seized the moment. He latched on to the ball and worked his way swiftly down the left till the baseline before slotting the ball home from a zero angle between the near post and Hickman.
Another goal in the 60th minute from a similar situation sealed Australia's fate. De Nooijer latched on to a long hit and broke away down the middle and into the cricle. As goalkeeper Hckman charged out, he squared the ball to Karel Klaver, who was overlapping on the right, to finish with a reverse flick.
Australia tried hard in the last four minutes, but the Dutch were content to play out time in their own half.
Yet, for the Aussies, who had finished fifth in the last edition of the Champions Trophy in Cologne, Germany, the silver medal was a huge improvement.
