Australia beat The Netherlands in a hard-fought encounter to enter the World Cup final.

By Anshul Baijal

Australia edged The Netherlands 2-1 to set up a third successive World Cup final clash against Germany.

At the National Stadium in New Delhi, Like Doerner and Glenn Turner struck once each for the Kookaburras while Taeke Taekema converted a penalty stroke for the Dutch.

It was a fast-paced game right from the start. Australia was more aggressive of the two sides. They put the Dutch defence under a lot of pressure but could not crack it up till the 27th minute. Doerner converted his team's first penalty corner to take his goal tally to seven in this tournament.

Three minutes later, Holland had a great chance to equalise, but the stopper failed to trap the ball during a penalty corner and a waiting Taekema was left stranded.

Day's action in pics

Both the teams started the second half on a cautious note. But Aussies soon shifted gears and started making frequent raids into the Dutch circle, but their attacks were thwarted by a determined Dutch defence. They finally doubled their lead 15 minutes from time when Glenn Turner made a quick turn in the Netherlands' circle and pushed the ball past keeper Guus Vogels. This was his sixth goal of the tournament.

Three minutes later, Holland's highest goal scorer Taekema pulled one back through a penalty stroke, which was awarded after a video referral.

Netherlands kept pushing in search of an equaliser, but the resilient Aussies turned out to be too good for them.

Four minutes from time, Holland captain Teum De Nooijer had a great chance to bring his team on level terms but the ball found his foot instead of stick in front of an open Aussie goal.

The Dutch kept scooping the ball into the Australian half, but they failed to make even a single serious attempt on goal.

The Aussies held off a Dutch backlash in the last few minutes to enter their fourth World Cup final.