Hockey World Cup: Australia win gold, Argentina deny England the bronze
Last Updated: 16/06/14 12:51am
Australia successfully defended their Hockey World Cup title with a crushing 6-1 victory over the Netherlands in The Hague.
Penalty corner specialist Chris Ciriello scored a hat-trick for the Kookaburras, who had to come from behind following what had been an impressive opening by the Dutch.
Australian goalkeeper Andrew Charter made a couple of fine saves from Mink van der Weerden at penalty corners before Jeroen Hertzberger swept Holland into the lead on 14 minutes.
However, Australia were soon level through Ciriello and Kieran Govers then stunned the partisan home crowd with another on 24 minutes.
Glenn Turner increased the advantage at the start of the second half, after which there was no way back for the Netherlands, whose women team had won their World Cup final against Australia on Saturday.
Ciriello (47 and 53) completed his hat-trick before Jamie Dwyer, whose appearance saw him equal Australia's appearance record, wrapped up an emphatic victory with six minutes left when he weaved into the D and rounded beleaguered Dutch goalkeeper Jaap Stockmann.
England denied
Earlier, two quick-fire second-half goals earned Argentina a 2-0 victory over England in the bronze medal match.
Matias Paredes fired home in the 55th and 56th minutes to earn Argentina their first medal in the championships.
Peredes found space in the circle and despite England keeper George Pinner’s attempt to block, he finished well.
England were still reeling from that blow when Paredes doubled Argentina’s lead. A drive up the right base line by Lucas Vila was pulled back for Paredes to provide a brilliant finish.
England tried desperately to force their way back into the game but Argentina keeper Juan Vivaldi proved himself unbeatable, the pick of his many excellent saves a diving block with his stick when Ashley Jackson looked certain to score.
England Captain Barry Middleton said: "We made a couple of mistakes and they scored a couple of good goals.
"It's demoralising to lose the game in a couple of bad minutes where the game's been so tight - we played how we wanted to and just didn't do enough in the end. It's hard to take right now, but it's been an amazing tournament."
Following the game it emerged Argentina had briefly had 12 players on the field, an offence which is punishable by a five-minute suspension for the captain.
Had this been noticed and punished at the time, the South Americans would have been down to 10 men for the period when they scored both goals.
As a result England Hockey lodged an appeal after taking legal advice as it believed the situation "materially affected the outcome of the game".
The International Hockey Federation's tournament director ruled there was a breach of regulations and decided Argentina's captain will be suspended for the first match of the next world-level event.
