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Champion's Trophy: Expect mind games from top teams

The Champions Trophy for men's and women's hockey starts in here in the Wagener Stadium in suburban Amsterdam on Friday. 38 matches of top hockey between the six best men's and women's teams in world hockey.

Friday sees the start of the women's competition: Australia v New Zealand, the Netherlands v South Africa, Argentina v Germany.

The men's competition starts Saturday: Spain v Germany; Australia v Korea and Great Britain v the Netherlands.

The Champions Trophy is the last major tournament for the top teams before the Sydney Olympics in September. Coaches use this tournament to decide which of their players are capable of performing at the top-level of the Olympic Games. This is more important than who wins or loses the Champions Trophy.

It is tough trying to sell that message to Pakistan hockey and to coach Islahuddin Siddiqui. Pakistan was relegated from the Champions Trophy after a poor showing in the Brisbane Champions Trophy in June 1999. Islahuddin and Pakistan's team management will be at the Wagener Stadium observing their opposition just as they were watched during the Olympic Qualifier Tournament in Osaka in March by coaches from Australia, Germany, the Netherlands and Canada.

For this reason alone, coaches will not show their Olympic tactics and penalty corner variations at the Champions Trophy but will focus more on individual players and combinations of players in their teams.

Australian women's manager, Wendy Pritchard made it plain when she said last week: "We will be playing very conservative hockey at the Champions Trophy. We won't be showing the other teams anything but that doesn't mean we won't be able to play our usual aggressive, fast-flowing style. It just means you keep a few tricks up your sleeve. You won't inhibit the way you play. No one will be showing much at this tournament so it'll be cat and mouse."

Already the mind games by the coaches are underway. Korea men's coach, Kim, Sang-ryul, hinted darkly in Osaka that he "may have to make changes at the front" after Korea qualified third, a step down from second at the Brisbane Champions trophy.

Coach Kim is a wily competitor but it is unlikely he would have asked Kang, Keon-wook and Song, Seong-tae to play as if they were on tranquilisers in Osaka.

Kang and Song are the only married players in the Korean team and will need to keep their minds on the pitch in Amstelveen or risk being omitted from the team to go to Sydney.

Terry Walsh, Australia's men's coach, would have us believe his team is the walking wounded. Key players, Daniel Sproule and Paul Gaudoin are out of the team with injuries while captain Michael York has mild hamstring trouble, Troy Elder has knee pain and Jason Duff is back from a 12-month layoff after a serious knee injury. Walsh says this leaves the Kookaburras "with less than ideal physical fitness leading into this rigorous competition".

Walsh also installed the Netherlands as favourites for the Champions Trophy. "The Netherlands will be the biggest challenge for three reasons", he asserted, "number one - I rate them as current Number 1 team in the world, number 2 - they are on home territory and that always evokes a good performance from them, number 3 - historically, they rise to play Australia".

Perhaps Walsh is right. The Netherlands overpowered Australia this week, 4-1 and 3-2, in lead-up matches.

Perhaps the seven year, major tournament, unbeaten run of Ric Charlesworth will come to end in Amstelveen.

Losses of 3-1 and 3-2 to Great Britain this week have achieved two things. First, Australia has assisted Great Britain's preparation for the Olympic Games and coach Jon Royce is crowing. "Once is fortune, twice will make a few people think and to score three goals without all our cards on the table is a real achievement. There's absolutely no reason why we can't kick-start the process to be the best at the Olympics," Royce is reported by The Times to have said.

Secondly, Ric Charlesworth has the wake-up call he constantly seeks to convince his team they can be beaten. For Charlesworth the real prize is Olympic gold before he retires after the Sydney Olympics.

Spain's men and Argentina's women are letting their play do all the talking. Spain won the Osaka tournament easily over Pakistan and were the class team of the tournament. With the world's best goalkeeper in Ramon Jefresa and rising star striker Eduard Tubau and a win against the Netherlands last week, Spain are the men's team to watch.

Argentina women are highly rated by Ric Charlesworth, won two warm-up matches against Great Britain and exchanged 2-1 results in two matches with the Netherlands in the past week.

By the end of the Champions Trophy on 4 June, the hockey world will have a better idea of the likely results at the Sydney Olympics, the real prize for all the teams in Amstelveen.

Courtsey: www.hockeyasia.com