Kookaburras suffer woeful end to Pro League defence
The Kookaburras have suffered an end-of-campaign let-down in Berlin as their German hosts crushed them 5-0 to ensure Australia's defending champions can't even finish as runners-up in the International Hockey Pro League.
In their final match on Wednesday (Thursday AEST), evidently feeling flat after their title hopes were extinguished at the weekend by the loss to England in London, Australia were unable to give Tom Craig a 150th cap to remember.
Instead, it was home hero Martin Zwicker who was left celebrating his record-breaking 336th appearance as the most capped German men's player of all time.
The five-goal trouncing lifted Germany into second place in the standings on 27 points, the same as the Kookaburras and still with two matches to play. Netherlands took the title with 35 points from 16 matches, having lost just twice all tournament.
Benedikt Schwarzhaupt put Germany ahead with a fifth-minute drag flick, Malte Hellwig made it two with his 13th-minute tap-in, and Moritz Ludwig's penalty-corner deflection six minutes later effectively sealed the deal.
Australia's best spell was then thwarted by German keeper Jean-Paul Danneberg, who made an inspired double save and dived to keep out a penalty corner, only for Hellwig to grab his second and put Germany 4-0 up by halftime.
Joel Rintala got a yellow card and Connar Otterbach a green as the Kookaburras' woes multiplied, with Raphael Hartkopf scoring a deflected fifth in the 36th minute.
It meant Australia ended their campaign with eight wins, three draws and five losses. They are currently third in the table, but Belgium (fourth) and Spain (fifth) could yet overhaul them.
"Germany were super clinical tonight, as they typically are, and it was a tricky way to finish a long tour," Craig said.
"This trip was about development, and we gave ourselves the opportunity to go pretty deep into the tournament as well. Unfortunately, we came a little bit unstuck in the last few games, but I think we've made a lot of big steps, and we've got a lot of footage as a team now to review with next year's World Cup in mind.
"It's definitely been a long journey, and maybe tonight I'll sit down and reflect on, maybe not this game, but the 149 before it, and feel a bit of pride."
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