Netherlands defeat Kookaburras 2-0 in Paris Olympic Games hockey quarter final

A brilliant Netherlands team slowly suffocated Tokyo silver medallists Australia in their Paris quarter final as a shattered Kookaburras side crashed out short of the medal rounds. MATCH REPORT.

A brilliant Netherlands team slowly suffocated Tokyo silver medallists Australia in their Paris quarter final as a shattered Kookaburras side crashed out short of the medal rounds.

A dazzling set play deflection from young Dutch striker Duco Telgenkamp and a brilliant solo run from Thijs van Dam consigned Australia to a 2-0 defeat at the Yves Du Manoir stadium.

Australia were prepared for another heavyweight battle after winning their Tokyo quarter final against the Dutch in a nail biting penalty shootout.

But while the knockout blow only came through van Dam’s last-quarter moment of magic this was an Olympics beat-down on the Australians.

Colin Batch’s men’s team had believed they had the mature battle-hardened team to win their eighth Olympic medal in nine attempts after strong pool play.

Corey Weyer passes in the men's quarter-final which Australia lost 2-0. Picture: Ahmad Gharable / AFP

Yet as the two hockey superpowers played off in an Olympic quarter final for the third time in a row, Australia was on the back foot from the first moments of the cut-throat contest.

The Yves Du Manoir crowd was a flood of Dutch fans in their traditional orange and as they hooted their approval the Netherlands took control of the game.

A brilliant set play deflection from Dutch striker Duco Telgenkamp from Jip Janssen’s drag flick early in the second quarter finally pierced Australia’s under-siege defence for the game’s defining moment.

Australian forward Lachlan Sharp had illegally contested a high ball outside of the circle so the Dutch were handed a crucial penalty corner and with clinical efficiency converted their chance.

Australian goalkeeper Andrew Charter was excellent in his 250th international cap and had no chance to stop that dazzling deflection or the darting run from van Dam, which beat him low and left.

Australia couldn’t find any way through the Dutch defence. Picture: Ahmad Gharabli / AFP

While Australia still had nine shots on goal and four fruitless penalty corners the Dutch had the game’s biggest moments and defended brilliantly.

Clear-cut chances for Australia were almost non-existent, with Tim Brand’s back-stick strike in the third quarter well saved and the only strong chance to equalise.

Thijs van Dam of Team Netherlands celebrates scoring his team's second goal which was enough to secure victory. Picture: Lars Baron/Getty Images

But as has been the case for much of this tournament a side with so much attacking firepower in recent campaigns had few answers apart from its penalty corner routine.

The brilliant Blake Govers came into the game having scored seven goals but no other Australian forward was able to manage more than one goal across a six-game campaign.

Australian captain Aran Zalewski said a team that had scored for fun in recent tournaments was not able to put together those moments at critical stages.

“That hasn’t cost us in any other tournament. We scored the most goals in the Pro League. So for us, it was one of those things that just didn’t quite fall. We definitely had enough chances to score. Yeah, I think some things you can’t explain right now and you don’t have the words to kind of explain them,” he said.

“A lot of energy and effort and time goes into these campaigns and look, you’re trying to prepare yourself and sometimes it just doesn’t go our way. As much as we tried to put everything in place, it wasn’t our Olympics. It wasn’t our campaign. And it is going to hurt the boys. A lot of them only get very few opportunities to do this.”

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Batch said the loss showed the extraordinarily even nature of world hockey and admitted a side with an average age of 29 might see some players retire.

“Probably, It’s a bit early to have a look at it, but the guys have been together for basically eight years. So there is natural attrition as happens in an Olympic cycle. Some boys will move on with careers and lifestyle and things like that.”

“It’s hard to swallow when you have high expectations and suddenly you are out of it at the quarter final.”

Batch’s Kookaburras have had a spectacular few years of international competition _ winning silver behind Belgium in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the 2022 Commonwealth Games, and this year’s Pro League international series.

But it will join the team that finished sixth in Rio as the only Australian hockey teams since the Kookaburras finished fourth in 1988 to miss out on an Olympic medal of some kind.