Blair Hopping - Player of the Series By JONATHAN MILLMOW
Victorious Australian men's hockey coach Barry Dancer rates New Zealand near certainties to qualify for the Olympics.
Australia completed a clean sweep of the three-match Oceania Cup series with a 4-1 win in Wellington yesterday.
New Zealand were mentally and physically off their game yesterday after heartbreak 24 hours earlier.
In Saturday's game New Zealand led three times but conceded two goals in three minutes to lose 4-3. It consigned them to a 12-nation qualifying tournament in Madrid in March.
The top seven countries in Madrid qualify for Athens. New Zealand are ranked fifth.
They are drawn in the easier pool with Netherlands (1), Malaysia (4), Japan (8), Belgium (9) and Canada (12) while the other pool contains Pakistan (2), Great Britain (3), India (6), Spain (7), Poland (10) and Cuba (11).
"I'd be very surprised if they didn't make the Olympics," Dancer said.
"I'm not surprised they've pushed us so close. They got ninth at the World Cup and they challenged Germany and Holland and I've seen them beat Pakistan and South Korea twice.
"If they do make the Olympic Games they'll challenge teams all the way."
New Zealand's performance on Saturday reinforced the view that the side is the finest since the Olympic champion lineup in 1976.
But they will kick themselves all the way to Madrid for not keeping the series alive till the third test.
Troy Elder's second and third goals came from poor last line defence and New Zealand failed to convert five second half penalty corners.
New Zealand were shattered. Coach Kevin Towns sensed during warm-ups yesterday that his charges were flat. He also had Ryan Archibald (groin), Dion Gosling (calf) and Mitesh Patel (hamstring) playing on one leg because of injury.
Phil Burrows gave New Zealand an early lead. But goals by Craig Victory and captain Paul Gaudion before the break and Elder and Michael McCann after it sealed victory.
"Mentally we weren't strong enough today to handle it," Towns said.
However, twice pushing the world No 2 to wire has convinced Towns that they are on track for Athens.
Midfielder Blair Hopping was New Zealand's player of the series while the other high points were were the development of flick specialist Hayden Shaw's field play and scoring four goals in open play.
Disappointments were New Zealand's midfield – though Archibald's injury had a big bearing – Shaw's flicking in the last two tests and patchy goalkeeping by Paul Woolford.
A disappointed Blair Hopping seconds after the final whistle.
"Cheer up Blair" says Nick Quinn."It's only a game of hockey ... where's Athens anyway?"
"Thanks guys... I suppose I did play rather well for a Waikato boy."