USA hit hard Austria by 5-2 to earn 7th place in FIH Champions Challenge II
Will Holt notched a brace in the second half, as USA marked a commanding win over Austria in the 7th place play-off match of the FIH Champions Challenge II that took place in Lille on July 10, 2011.
One of the strikers, Kevin Barber, while speaking to the media after the match, said that they received a large number of goal-scoring chances in the first half and they utilised some of them in the victory. He stated, “To us, it just felt like a matter
of time before we would score. We had plenty of chances in the half and we knew if we stayed calm and kept playing how we were playing the goals would be there.”
USA and Austria started the play in a splendid way with exchanging attacks in the very early minutes. Though the duo squads were sitting at the bottom-line, they were in a struggle to secure the second last place in the eight-nation tournament.
In the 10th minute of the match, the Austrian side received their third short-corner and tested Michael Korper. He was in good form, despite missing on a few occasions in the previous matches, and converted the chance into a successful goal.
The USA attack came alive in the 25th minute of the match, when Michiel Dijkxhoorn approached the defensive circle of Austria and slammed a drag-flick in the goal. Interestingly, neither Austria not USA succeeded to make an addition in the score
in the remaining period and the first half action completed with both sides at one-each.
The American players, though demonstrated sloppiness at the start of the second half, however they reorganised their strategies and accomplished back-to-back strikes against Austria. With seven minutes to the second period, Will Holt started his action and
marked a couple of goals within two minutes. In the 43rd minute, he received a pass from the mid-field position and comfortably tapped it into the Austrian cage. In the very next minute, Holt managed to take the ball by the left flank and scooped
a shot in the corner of the bars. These two goals extended the US lead up to two goals, 3-1 and increased pressure on Austria.
Jon Ginolfi converted a short-corner in the 53rd minute through a superb drag flick and put Americans ahead on the way to success. Though Georg Jelinek added a goal in the 63rd minute of the match and decreased the US lead down to two
again, but it could not save them from a heavy margin defeat.
With three minutes remaining on the clock, Patrick Harris accounted for a goal and sealed the victory by 5-2.
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