The format of the FIH Junior World Cup is as unforgiving as the competition therein. This year’s competitions — the men’s World Cup in India and the women’s World Cup in Chile — have 24 teams scooched together in six groups of four. The preliminary rounds of the tournaments feed into three knockout brackets — one with the six group-winners and the two best second-place teams. The next highly-ranked eight teams go into a classification bracket to determine ninth through 16th place, while the lowest eight go into a consolation bracket to determine 17th through 24th place.
As we saw two years ago with the U.S. women, a team can play good hockey throughout the prelims, only to lose out on classification on goal differential. This year’s unlucky team on the men’s side is, stunningly, Australia. The Australian field hockey apparatus, with pro leagues and a sophisticated club system, has created a powerhouse men’s national team. That team won three FIH World Cups, an Olympic gold medal, three FIH World League titles, and an astounding 15 Champions Trophies.
On the junior side, Australia has one Junior World Cup to its credit, in 1997. However, the Burras have been off the medal stand for the last 15 years, and yesterday’s 3-1 win over Korea was not enough to push them into the top 8 for the championship knockout round.
What is astonishing is that this is the first time in World Cups — U-21 or senior — that Australia has failed to make the quarterfinal round.
For a nation that has produced its share of stars, like Jamie Dwyer, Barry Dancer, and Ric Charlesworth, this is a heavy fall to earth.