Australia claim one final ticket

AUSTRALIA booked their slot in the final with a game to spare when they beat Great Britain 2-1 in the Azlan Shah Cup yesterday.
The World Cup, Champions Trophy and Commonwealth Games holders made it look like its just another day in the office with goals from Brent Dancer in the eight minute and Christopher Cirello in the 29th minute. Britain tried to make a come-back, but could only score one off Richard Mantell in the 57th minute.
However, the win, according to Australian coach Ric Charlesworth was made much more difficult by poor umpiring.
"I made a mistake of praising the umpires earlier, because some of the decisions taken today made our match that much harder.
"I believe all the decisions to award penalty corners against us were for infringements outside the semi-circle, and they were dubious. The umpires just had their own interpretations of the rules," said Ric.
Ric also said even though they have achieved their target, they still have traditional rivals New Zealand to play.
"When we arrived, we had planned to play in the last match on Sunday (final) and achieved it. But still, there is one more match against our traditional rivals New Zealand, so there would be no rest until after the final game," said Ric.
As for Great Britain player and England skipper James Tindall, they lost the match because they gave the Aussies too much of respect.
"We lost the match in the first five minutes itself, as we gave them too much respect. We knew it would not be an easy match, as they are the world champions, but still, we did not play our usual self, and paid the price for it," said Glenn
With only one final spot remaining, Great Britain, Pakistan and New Zealand will have to bring out their best to claim it.