In the final game of the 30th Champions Trophy in Rotterdam Australia defeated Spain to take the title. Australia had the best of the exchanges in the first half as they took an early lead through Desmond Abbott but Spain equalised through a Xavier Ribas penalty corner strike to go in at half time on level terms. Australia had the better of the first of the second half and when the ball was stopped on the line by a Spanish defender from their first penalty corner of the half, Jamie Dwyer (pictured) stepped up to score from the penalty spot and give Australia the lead. Spain pushed forward in search of the equaliser but it was Australia who broke away and Eddie Ockenden scored his second of the tournament and Australia’s third to put them 3-1 in the lead. Spain pressed again but fine saves from goalkeeper Stephen Lambert kept Spain at bay. And in the final minute Eli Matheson broke away to score again for Australia and make a final score of 4-1. A sign of things to come in Beijing? The Argentines finished in their highest position ever in the Champions Trophy as they took bronze medal in their match against the Netherlands after a penalty shootout. The Dutch opened their account after just five minutes with a superb team goal, finally put in the net by their talisman Teun de Nooijer. But Argentina hit back after fifteen minutes through Mario Almada. With only ten men on the pitch following a yellow card for Rodrigo Vila, the Argentines forced two penalty corners but it was the Netherlands who raced away and took the lead again with another super goal from Ronald Brouwer. In the second half the Netherlands earned their one and only penalty corner of the game but wasted a number of chances to further their lead and the Argentines scored an equaliser with just seven minutes left on the clock through Matias Paredes. 2-2 at full time and golden goal came into play to decide the winner. But with no score in the extra fifteen minute the game went to penalties. Lucas Vila, Juan Gilardi, Rodrigo Vila and captain Matias Vila all scored for Argentina, whilst Ronald Brouwer, Rob Reckers and Roderick Weusthof all scored for the Netherlands before a miss by Robert van der Horst left Argentina’s Lucas Cammareri with a chance to seal the victory for Argentina. He duly did so.
Keller netted once again for Germany to take his tally to 7 and the top of the goal scoring league as his team beat South Korea 3-1 to cement 5th place in the Champions Trophy. Mistakes by both reserve goalkeepers, given a chance in this match, led to both number elevens scoring for their respective teams, Sebastian Draguhn for Germany and Woon Kon Yeo for South Korea, and 1-1 was the score at half time. In the second half Germany had more chances but it wasn’t until the last ten minutes that they confirmed their win with goals from Tibor Weissenborn and Florian Keller. They will meet again in the group matches at the Olympics.
Juan Manuel Vivaldi of Argentina was voted Best goalkeeper, Jamie Dwyer Best Player, and Eddie Ockenden Most Promising Player. Florian Keller took the top goal scorer with Spain taking the Fair Play award.
In the final game of the 30th Champions Trophy in 