
A high-flying Australia destroyed Germany 6-1 with an awesome display of speed and power in a league match of the 25th Champions Trophy hockey tournament here today.
Thriving on lightning conter-attacks and set-piece play, the Australians left their opposition clueless scoring goals at will.
Two goals each by Michael McCann and Grant Schubert set the stage for the big Australian win while both Adam Commens and Aaron Hopkins sounded the board once to complete the German rout.
Late in the game, Alexander Sahmel put the world champions on the board with a penalty corner conversion.
The Aussies, who barely escaped elimination from the tournament last year when they finished a poor fifth, thus moved to the top of the table to join the Netherlands on seven points from two wins, a draw and a defeat to the home team.
The young German team, comprising mostly junior players, languish at the bottom of the table without a point, having lost all their three games.
Much of Australia8217;s supremacy was evident in the first-half. McCann completed a grand move initiated by Zain Wright who put through Schubert for a run down the right.
Schubert flicked to McCann positioned in the mouth of the goal to score in the ninth minute.
The Aussies then stepped up the pace in a bid to drive home the advantage and scored thrice in a six-minute spell.
Commens found the net with a spectacular wrong-foot flick after going in on a pass from Matthew Wells, Schubert closed a swift counter-attack that caught the entire German defence upfield, as he tapped home a Troy Elder pass.
The Germans barely recovered from the onslaught when McCann capped a left-wing move to put Aussies ahead 4-0.