Australia showed their might with an impressive 4-0 win over South Africa in the final Group A match at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium in Johor Bahru on Tuesday.
The Australians went into the match without Brodee Foster who was suspended one match by the Technical Committee for jabbing Germany’s Antheus Barry below the belt with his hockey stick during a heated moment between both teams in Monday’s encounter. The match ended in a 2-2 draw.
The Australians, two-time winners of the SOJC since its inception in 2011, must win this tie against the South Africans to seal a place in the semifinals. And they did that with almost easy workload.
“We went in hoping to play a simple game and the players did a fantastic job. I did not expect four goals,” said Australian Assistant coach Matthew Wells. “Barry was very upset he could not play tonight but this is something he needs to work on. The good thing is he will join the team for the semi-finals. We have no idea who are our opponents – either Pakistan or India.”
Copper Burns and Will Mathison fired the Burras into a 2-0 lead with field goals in the 15th and 24th minutes, and Dylan Downey extended the lead to a comfortable 3-0 score in the 41st minute.
Man of the Match Cooper Burns, however, sealed South Africans fate with the fourth goal in the 51st minute via a penalty corner conversion to record 4-0 win.
With this victory, the Australians share seven-equal points with the Germans and move into the semifinals stage. The Germans were earlier embroiled in a pressure-cooker atmosphere encounter against Great Britain before surviving a 4-3 scare at the hooter.
The South Africans had their chances too but failed to capitalize on them. Caleb Oliphant shot in the circle balloon over the post in the 43rd minute, and captain Ansel Nathan muffed an open target in the 52th minute.