Australia’s supremacy in the past year with the Olympic gold and their excellent undefeated run in the current Champions Trophy games, combined with the win over Netherlands in the preliminary game gave them the tag of favorites to win the final.

With rain affecting every game on this Sunday (it has been raining all day due to a depression in the nearby Bay of Bengal), the teams needed to adapt to the conditions and play accordingly. Both teams went in without players that were injured on Friday. Nathan Eglington of Australia and Matthijs Brouwer of Netherlands had sustained a hand injury.

Sharp showers welcomed both teams as they started to play. With even exchanges to begin with, neither team was able to take any shots at goal. The continuous light rain made play a bit difficult with the ball slowing down considerably.

The first scoring opportunity for the Dutch came in the 20 th minute when Tuen de Nooijer set up Floris Evers with a neat pass, who relayed the ball very wide off Rob Reckers.

In a lightning quick reversal, Australia earned its first PC, which was taken by Brent Livermore and deflected by Mathew Wells on to and over Gus Vogels’ pad for the first goal in the 22 nd minute.

Passing frenzy, Aussie style—every hockey team should learn from them! Australia almost scored with quick passing among their forwards with Jamie Dwyer being prominent, but the finishing eluded them as the Dutch goalie, Gus Vogels came in the way.

Australia went into the breather with a 1-0 advantage. Australia opened the 2 nd half with a field goal from Liam De Young, with an assist from Travis Brooks in the very first minute amid pouring rain. With the rain coming down in torrential proportions, the game was stopped in the 37 th minute. The game was restarted after 15 minutes of pounding rain and the ground personnel had to clear some of the excess water in front of the goals.

Netherlands almost scored from a neat effort in the 45 th minute between Ronald Brouwer and Karel Klaver, who got past the Aussie goalie but Dean Butler did well to cover the hit and saved what would have been a sure goal for the Dutch.

Both teams exchanged a couple of shots at goal in a short span of time but none could convert.

Australia’s effort to convert consecutive PCs in the 57 th and 60 th minute didn’t meet with success as they were off target. With 10 minutes to go, Netherlands pushed for that goal to reduce the margin, but their finishing let them down.

Before one could bat an eyelid, Australia’s Jamie Dwyers ran down the left flank and unchallenged, executed a great reverse hit that beat Gus Vogels in the 63 rd minute for a 3-0 Aussie lead.

The first PC in the 2 nd half for Netherlands yielded their first goal. Taeke Taekema’s first attempt was blocked by the Aussie goalie Lambert, but he quickly jumped on the rebound and flicked it in for a consolation 3-1 score line (66 th minute).

Netherlands tried some desperate methods with long hits but none come to fruition in the dying minutes of the game. Australia were well deserved winners and the final score line of 3-1 correctly reflected the nature of the game with the Aussies dominating the offensive play and their midfielders and defense didn’t let the usually efficient Dutch forward line get past them. Perhaps the rain slowed down the game after the resumption but it did affect both the teams equally. Australia was justly rewarded for their athleticism, speed, all-round play and consistency through out the tournament where they won every game except the drawn one against Pakistan.

The Dutch were certainly not in their peak and just barely made it to the final with that last minute goal against India on Friday in the preliminary game. If not for that, they would have played the bronze medal game with Germany. Besides, Tuen de Nooijer, the great playmaker that he is, simply couldn’t get his way around today.

Jamie Dwyer was declared the player of the game and Bevan George of Australia the player of the tournament. Spain took the fair play award.

Spain started to push hard from the word go and in the 11 th minute, an unmarked Santi Frexia’s solo effort on he left flank and a reverse hit almost beat the German goalie Christian Schulte. This was just a dress rehearsal for things to come!

A 13 th minute hit from Santi Frexia again found the German goalie, but the ball ricocheted off the goalie’s pad and rolled over into the goal for Spain’s first goal.

Germany’s forward line, in the meanwhile, made some effort to push through the Spanish defense but with no success. On the other hand, an opportunistic goal for Spain came as Alex Fabregas pounced on a loose ball emanating from a German tackle inside their half for a 2-0 lead in the 21 st minute.

The Spanish forwards were on a rampage, unstoppable, as they made several forays into the German deep defense with 4 shots at the goal in a couple of minutes, but none yielded results.

Germany finally managed to break the Spanish bastion and scored a field goal against the run of play, emanating from a free hit outside Spain’s D and the credit went to Moritz Furste of Germany to reduce the goal margin to 1-2 in the 28 th minute.

With steady rain coming down hard, both teams started to play sluggishly with several taking falls due to an over-saturated pitch.

A 41st minute field goal from Pol Amat, helping himself to a deflection from Santi Frexia’s solo run into the German goalkeeper Schulte, increased the lead for Spain. Germany was giving Santi Frexia of Spain too much leeway and it was proving costly.

In the 56 th minute, Santi Frexia stole the ball from the Germans and his solo run down the left flank followed by a deft right pass to Pol Amat was a delight to watch. Amat dodged the German goalie to score easily for a 4-1 lead.

In the meanwhile, Germany reduced the margin to 2-4 with a field goal from Matthias Witthaus in the 59 th minute, tapping in the ball unopposed in front of the goal.

Fraught with danger was the German defensive line playing way up to support their forward line to press for a goal with time running out. Capitalizing on this, Santi Frexia of Spain went on a solo run and beat a rushing German goalie with deft stick work that beat the goalie and went over his pads for a fabulous goal in the dying seconds of the game for a fantastic 5-2 bronze medal victory. This was the first occasion a team had scored 5 goals in the tournament and it appeared Spain’s Santi Frexia had his hand in each of them. Pol Amat was declared the player of the match for his 3 goals.

In final assessment, the Spaniards were very clinical in their approach and made the Germans pay for every lapse, while the Germans impressed in patches. Santi Frexia of Spain was unstoppable with his deft dodges and solo play—he certainly is a big star in the making and will do even better next year when the Champions Trophy games will be played in his hometown, Terrasa, Spain.

In this part of the world, any clash between archrivals India and Pakistan takes the importance of a tournament final. Never mind that they were playing for the 5th and 6yh positions, the crowds thronged the Radhakrishnan stadium in Chennai, braving the constant rain to support the home team.

A second minute move down the right flank between Halappa and Gagan Ajit yielded the first PC for India. Kanwalpreet Singh’s carpet drive was hard enough to ricochet off the Pakistani goalie for a 1-0 lead for India.

India had the better of exchanges in the first 10 minutes with neat interceptions by William Xalco in the deep defense ( India was playing 3 full backs with Kanwalpreet acting as the sweeper). A great move down the left flank from one such interception had India’s Gagan Ajit execute a reverse hit that missed the target.

William Xalco’s nice slap hit into the Pakistan D from a long corner had an opportunistic Prabhjot Singh hit a goal to increase India’s lead to 2-0 in the 14 th minute. Never before in this Champions Cup had India taken a 2-0 lead such early in a game.

A 29th and 32nd minute attempts by Ignace Tirkey from the left flanks and center missed their targets when a little bit presence of mind would have ensured a pass to an unmarked player. India grew complacent towards the end of the 1 st half with the 2-0 advantage and conceded a PC in the 33 rd minute, which was immaculately converted by Pakistan’s full back Muhammad Imran to reduce the margin to 1-2.

As the first half winded down, India braced to concede another goal but the Pakistani drag flick from Imran went way off.

Pakistan started off the 2 nd half with renewed vigor and a defensive lapse cost India dearly. A pass ensued to an unmarked Ahktar Ali at the top of the Indian D who made no mistake in taking a clean hit to beat India’s goalie Bharat Chetri for the equalizer in the 38 th minute.

No meaningful play ensued in the next 10 minutes with both teams not pressing hard for the lead. Pakistan went into the lead (3-2) in the 48 th minute from a penalty stroke that was a result of a Kanwalpreet Singh foot in front of the goal, which was effortlessly scored by the Pakistani captain, Muhammad Saqlain.

India earned their 2nd PC in the 52nd minute but a slow moving Sandeep Singh’s drag flick was blocked by Pakistan at the top of the D, frittering away the chance for India to equalize.

With just 15 minutes to go, India showed no sense of urgency and conceded yet another PC in the 23rd minute and an airborne Bharat Chetri of India spectacularly blocked the drag flick.

It became amply clear that Pakistan came into the second half with a clear game plan and it showed with better ball possession and manner in which they were dictating terms.

A defensive lapse inside the Indian D in the 6 nd minute had defender Harpal Singh dispossessed of the ball an unmarked Rehan Butt (India’s nemesis in the past several Champions Trophy games) hit the deflection in for a 4-2 lead for Pakistan.

With 2 goals down, India finally showed some sense of urgency and a hit in from Kanwalpreet on the right flank was pounced on by Gagan Ajit and tapped in for a good goal in the 6 th minute. A couple of great opportunities to equalize went to waste for India. A loose ball ensued inside the Pakistani D and Prabhjot Singh with just the goalkeeper to beat totally muffed it up. Similarly, Gagan Ajit of India missed trapping a long hit from Kanwalpreet Singh. That was the last chance India got and Pakistan held on for a deserved victory, ensuring that they will play the next champions trophy tournament in Terrassa, Spain. After having competed in the past 4 CT games, India is relegated and will have to re-qualify for 2007. In the meanwhile there’s been talk in the FIH circles to increase the number of participating teams for CT’s to 8, giving opportunity for other teams to qualify. It remains to be seen if it will be feasible in 2007.

In assessment, while the Indian defense played well in phases, there were lapses that proved costly. This also reflected the resilience of the Pakistani team that took these chances to finish cleanly.

With Australia already ensured of the gold medal game on Sunday, they probably looked up on this as a practice game. Exchanges in the earlier part of the game were pretty much even with both teams not looking threatening.

Aussie goalie Stephen Lambert stopped two distinctive goal scoring attempts from Pakistan around the 17 th minute from Rehan Butt and Mudassar Ali Khan respectively.

The supremely fit and fast paced Australians surged ahead with a PC conversion in the 31 st minute by Luke Doerner. While there’re no great drag flick exponents in the Aussie ranks, they manage to get their act right in each and every game—talk about total hockey.

Pakistan equalized from their 2 nd PC in the 34 th minute. Muhammed Imran made no mistake in a neatly executed drag flick that hit nothing but the roof of the net.

Both teams had their chances to go ahead before the break, but couldn’t capitalize.

A 39 th minute PC had Pakistan trying out a variation in set play and the resulting indirect attempt found an Aussie defender, only for Rehan Butt to pounce on the rebound and score for a 2-1 lead. A couple of other attempts from Pakistan were foiled by an alert Aussie goalie Stephen Lambert.

A 54 th minute foray by Grant Schubert earned Australia their first PC in the 2 nd half that was deflected by a rushing Zeeshan Ashraf. A resulting long corner for Australia had just one touch before it was neatly deflected by Matt Naylor to beat Nasir Ahmed at the goal post for the equalizer.

It was Australia’s turn to go into the lead in the 57 th minute with Mathew Wells’ PC conversion that went the classical hard hit way. With Pakistan pressing hard to equalize again it was a seesaw battle and a brilliant field goal from Mudassar Ali Khan who made deft body dodges inside the Australian D before beating Stephen Lambert for a 3-3 score line.

Pakistan appeared to have had the upper hand in the 2 nd half and was able to equalize but neither teams were able to score during the dying minutes of the game. For his great effort Mudassar Khan of Pakistan was declared the player of the match.

Sahara Champions Trophy 2005, Chennai, India12/16/05;

This was a very crucial game for both the Dutch and the Indians, for a loss would push them down the order for a less meaningful play-off game on Sunday.

India opened the match with a flurry of activity trying to gain an upper hand by maintaining better ball possession. It appeared they got a kick in the hind after that loss to Germany on Wednesday. India took first honors at taking a shot at the goal when a 9 th minute interception by Kanwalpreet Singh in the defense and a subsequent rasping long hit was neatly deflected by Tushar Khandekar, only to miss the target by a whisker. India made some great moves and found the right forwards, but couldn’t finish cleanly from both the wings. While the Indian defense was making neat interceptions (India went in with 3 full-backs in Kanwalpreet, Harpal and Xalco) and was ably supported by a tight half line comprising V.S. Vinay, Ignace Tirkey, Arjun Hallappa and Vikram Pillay, the forwards applied immense pressure on the Dutch defense. All this happened in the first 10 minutes.

It appeared to be routine as India’s goalie Bharat Chetri came to their rescue in the 15 th minute, stopping a hit from top D where Derikx was left unmarked.

A 20 th minute strong Dutch move culminated in Teun de Nooijer take a crack at the goal but a vigilant Chetri stopped it. Following a Dutch PC that was again blocked by Chetri, India almost scored a field goal from a fast break for India. The Indians appeared to be doing everything right but score, with quick passes and releases.

Both teams pressed hard for that elusive goal as a strong Indian defense and poor finishing by Indian forwards and a vigilant Gus Vogels, the Dutch custodian ensured a 0-0 score line at half time.

The early part of the 2 nd half started to get a bit physical with India’s Harpal Singh and Netherlands' Tuen de Nooijer clashing.

The first 5 minutes of the 2 nd half saw both teams miss easy goal scoring opportunities due to poor finishing right in front of the goal. In an effort to get the game moving at a faster pace, both teams started to commit some fundamental errors.

Gagan Ajit of India appeared to have deflected a hit in from just outside the Dutch ‘D’ into the goal and that got the crowd very excited, but umpire Gentles of Australia felt otherwise.

In the meanwhile, New Zealand umpire Jason McCracken started to make several wrong calls and it took the other umpire David Gentles of Australia to over-rule and correct McCracken on a couple of occasions.

A 45 th minute PC for Netherlands was saved yet again brilliantly by India’s young goalkeeper Bharat Chetri. With all these great saves, it made one wonder why he was not the first choice for the first 3 games. You could tell he was confidence personified, going by the several airborne saves.

The usually adept Dutch forward line was unable to penetrate the Indian defense and it took a 51 st minute strong PC push along the ground from Roderick Weusthof to go ahead. Another PC for Netherlands in the 54 th minute was wasted as a tame push was easily cleared by India.

Finally, of the 2 nd PC of the day in the 66 th minute, India equalized from a blistering drag flick from Sandeep Singh, prompting the biased crowd to roar and ask for more.

Both teams had a few more chances to take the lead but Vogels and Chetri in particular did splendid work to thwart those attempts respectively. In the meanwhile India’s Harpal Singh was harshly shown the yellow card in the 60 th minute by Jason McCracken for raising his stick to stop an aerial ball. He was not called back until the end of the game.

The Dutch pressed hard in the dying minutes and forced a couple of PCs. Taeke Taekema converted a drag flick with his usual flair with only seconds remaining before the hooter to ensure they will play Australia in the final on Sunday.

In final assessment, the game was very exciting and the Indians played their hearts out and clearly this has been their best display so far in the tournament. A fair result would have been a draw, notwithstanding the bad taste left by the officiating. So much so that Jason McCracken got a verbal lashing and was booed by the crowd. To express their disappointment, some elements in the crowd also resorted to throwing plastic bottles after the game. For his great efforts under the bar, Bharat Chetri of India was declared as the player of the match.