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.
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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.
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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.
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"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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New York Times
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- New York Times
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Chelsea will play Palmeiras in the quarter-finals of the Club World Cup after defeating Benfica 4-1 in a last 16 game that was suspended for almost two hours by a severe weather warning, saw a controversial equalising penalty converted in stoppage time and was finally won in a flurry of extra-time goals, four hours and 38 minutes after kick off. Advertisement There was 85 minutes on the clock when referee Slavko Vincic signalled for the players to leave the field due to severe weather in the area, a feature of this summer's tournament that is likely to be repeated at next year's World Cup, and the game did not resume until an hour and 55 minutes later. Chelsea's players played football in the dressing room and rode exercise bikes to keep ready but when the game resumed, Benfica were awarded a controversial penalty in stoppage time. Angel Di Maria scored to take the game into extra time and Benfica then had Gianluca Prestianni sent off for a second yellow card but Christopher Nkunku put Chelsea back in front with a smart lifted finish after an error by goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin. Pedro Neto and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added two more goals before the end as Benfica folded at the end of an extraordinary encounter. Reece James had scored in the 64th minute to open the scoring in a game that kicked off at 4pm ET and ended at The win earns Chelsea a further $13.7m (about £9.8m), taking their estimated total prize money so far to about $54m. Here The Athletic's Oliver Kay and Liam Twomey break down the key talking points. For the sixth time since the Club World Cup began, storms forced a suspension in play. Chelsea were edging their way to a 1-0 victory in Charlotte, with less than five minutes left on the clock, when the referee ordered both teams to leave the pitch and return to the dressing rooms due to what FIFA described as 'severe weather in the area'. It was nearly two hours before the match officials gave the all-clear for play to resume. Storms are a fact of life in the United States at this time of year, particularly in the central and eastern areas of the country — and that creates problems for so many of the host cities for this summer's Club World Cup (and next summer's World Cup). After earlier cases in Orlando (kick-off between Ulsan and Mamelodi Sundowns delayed by 65 minutes) and Cincinnati (Red Bull Salzburg against Pachuca suspended for 97 minutes), this time it was 113 minutes. The match had been petering out, but the hiatus changed everything. Benfica's players looked like they had been let off the leash, Chelsea's as if they had expected to go through the motions for the final minutes. A Benfica equaliser immediately looked likely, even if the nature of it was fortuitous: an Angel Di Maria penalty awarded after a VAR check found Malo Gusto guilty of a handball. Advertisement That meant extra time and, absurdly, more than four hours had passed since the game kicked off. Chelsea ended up victorious after a flurry of goals in the second half of extra time, but for players and spectators alike — both at the stadium and on TV — these delays are challenging to say the least. Oliver Kay After the extraordinary delay, Benfica knew they had five minutes of normal time plus stoppage time to find an equaliser, which they did in controversial fashion when they were awarded a penalty for handball by Malo Gusto. The move began when Benfica were awarded a soft free kick on the edge of the box after Caicedo was judged to have pulled down Di Maria. From that free-kick, Di Mari played the ball to the back post where Gusto jumped didn't connect with his defensive header. Behind him, Nicolas Otamendi did connect with his header, aiming it across the goal. And with Gusto looking towards Otamendi, the ball struck Gusto's raised left arm as he fell. The referee was watching the incident and did not give a penalty but after being called to the replay screen by the VAR he did award one, with Di Maria beating Robert Sanchez. Remarkably, this was the first time that Reece James, Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Enzo Fernandez and Cole Palmer had all started a game together for Chelsea. Well, perhaps not quite so remarkable when you consider the injuries that have restricted both James and Lavia to so little football over the past two seasons. But this was a glimpse of how Chelsea could look in the season ahead if those injury problems ease: James at right-back, Lavia and Caicedo in central midfield, Fernandez a little more advanced of that duo and Pedro Neto, on this occasion, joining Palmer and Liam Delap further forward. REECE JAMES!!! 🔥 Chelsea have their first goal of the afternoon ⚽ Watch the @FIFACWC | June 14 – July 13 | Every Game | Free | | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld #SLBCHE — DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) June 28, 2025 It was a surprise to see Palmer on the left: presumably a temporary measure, with Chelsea now having agreed a deal to sign England Under-21 winger Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund. Palmer did not look entirely comfortable there, but there were flashes of quality. Likewise from Lavia and Caicedo, who controlled the midfield. Delap's performance was less easy to evaluate, but there were more signs that his speed, aggression and direct running are excellent raw attributes to work with. 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USA Today
an hour ago
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