The 2012 Men's Hockey Champions Trophy will be the 34th edition of the
Hockey Champions Trophy for men. The tournament will be held in
Australia from December 1–9, 2012. On May 8, 2012, the International
Hockey Federation (FIH) announced that Melbourne is the host city with
State Netball and Hockey Centre as the venue of tournament
The
Dutch are one of the most experienced teams at the Champions Trophy and
will take on one of the relative rookies in their quarterfinal meeting
against New Zealand. Despite lack of Champions Trophy caps for the Black
Sticks, the two nations have still met six times in Champions Trophy
history. The Dutch have won four of those meetings, drawn once and lost
only once. The lone loss came in 2010 in a 3-1 preliminary round
decision. The cards are definitely stacked against the Black Sticks
historically in Thursday's game. Add to the fact that the Netherlands is
the top seed out of its pool and it means New Zealand will have to
bring their A Game tomorrow to stay in the hunt for a medal.
Much
like the first match of the day, this meeting between two hockey giants
is steeped in tradition. The sides have met an epic 23 times, with host
Australia holding the clear advantage with 16 wins, 7 draws and zero
losses (includes Great Britain results as well). Yes, that’s right,
never have the Aussies lost against England and add to the lopsided
record the fact that Australia has out-scored England nearly two to one
in those meetings (61-30). But there is hope for the northern nation,
England had also never won against Germany prior to this edition of the
Champions Trophy and managed to put that streak to an end with a win on
Sunday. Clearly the young English squad is unfazed by previous results
and Thursday could be England’s chance to at last get the elusive
victory against the Aussies, despite history being in the hosts’ favour.
