Hockey World Cup 2018: Australia start favourites in semifinals tonight

It’s down to last four teams in the hockey World Cup with a mouth-watering clash between Australia and Netherlands in the second semifinal tonight. Preceding it will be surprise semifinalists England taking on Belgium. Both matches are expected to produce high quality hockey, making it a Super Saturday.

As the Australians went about polishing their different skill sets – penalty corners, shootouts, dribbles, shots on goal, you name it – during their training session on Friday morning, their head coach Colin Batch walked around the field, observing his players for a large part of it except for when he felt like having a little word with someone.

During a couple of India’s practice sessions in the lead-up to the quarterfinals, head coach Harendra Singh had to physically teach the technique of deflecting a pass from outside the D into the goal with a stick in hand to young Dilpreet Singh a number of times. 

The contrast isn’t to say that what Harendra did was wrong, it is to merely reflect the kind of auto-pilot mode in which this Australian hockey team functions.

The two-time defending champions have looked every bit of a well-oiled machinery that it is in this World Cup so far, drubbing and demolishing teams to storm into their 10th consecutive semifinal appearance in the world event, a jaw-dropping run that began from 1978.

It’s the kind of dominance that can intimidate any team, even if you are Netherlands, Australia’s semifinal opponent with a hockey powerhouse tag of its own. 

Their head coach Max Caldas joked in the post-match press conference after his team defeated India in the quarterfinals that he’ll need a good night’s sleep before even thinking about devising a plan to stop the Aussie juggernaut on Saturday.

It’s how seriously good this Australian team is.

After a slow start to their campaign that saw them beating Ireland 2-1, the Aussies cranked it up a notch in every game thereon, outsmarting England 3-0 and thrashing China 11-0 before brushing aside France 3-0 in the quarterfinals.

Peaking at the right time is something the Australians are good at in big tournaments, and it’s certainly what they are doing here too.

It will need something special from the Dutch to pull off an upset, one which cannot be completely ruled out simply due to Caldas’s tendency of coming up with tactical masterclass on how to outfit opponents with an army of experienced and seasoned personnel.     

That makes this semifinal duel mouth-watering, and the outcome not so much a foregone conclusion.