MOENCHENGLADBACH (Germany): Australia aim to capture their third consecutive Champions Trophy title, and 11th overall, when the 31st men’s tournament starts on Saturday.

World top-ranked Australia are pitted against Germany (2), the Netherlands (3), Spain (4), England (6) and New Zealand (7).

Australia coach Richard Charlesworth has selected a younger team than the one which won the 2009 World Cup and the Champions Trophy.

He has omitted Kiel Brown, Liam De Young, Rob Hammond, Mark Knowles and Grant Schubert and included Chris Ciriello, Tim Deavin, Trent Mitton, Jason Wilson and Joel Carroll.

Charlesworth said the thinking behind the changes was to plan for the 2012 London Olympics.

“Our sights are firmly set on the Olympics. Everything we have done and everything we will continue to do will have this in mind,” said Charlesworth.

Germany are under pressure to win at home and repeat their 2006 World Cup final 4-3 win over Australia here which was orchestrated by striker Christopher Zeller. He returns after a year’s break from international tournaments to complete his studies.

Florian Fuchs, 18, was Germany’s standout striker in the 2009 Melbourne Champions Trophy and Max Muller and Martin Haner are formidable defenders.

Netherlands skipper Teun de Nooijer will add to his 423 international caps by playing a record 16th consecutive Champions Trophy tournament, eclipsing his former captain Jeroen Delmee’s 15 appearances.

First-time Netherlands coach Paul van Ass has a mandate to reach the podium for the first time in a major tournament since their second place at the 2007 Kuala Lumpur Champions Trophy.

Spain have much to do to add to their only title in 2004 and could only take fifth place in Melbourne last year.

Although missing key strikers Pol Amat and Eduard Tubau, the return of dynamic striker Santiago Freixa after a year of injuries gives Spain an additional penalty corner drag-flicker to partner Pau Quemada.

England also have suffered two major injury setbacks.

Defender Richard Mantell broke an ankle at the New Delhi World Cup in March and captain Barry Middleton fractured a toe last week in practice, which could mean that England will struggle to better their 2001 Champions Trophy highest fifth place.

New Zealand are fully fit for their fifth appearance, looking to improve on their fourth place in the first edition in 1978 when they were fresh from their gold medal win over Australia at the Montreal Olympics.

Three European club players — Ryan Archibald, Phillip Burrows and Simon Child — have the experience to lead New Zealand to a play-off for a bronze medal, aided by world-class penalty corner takers Hayden Shaw and Andy Hayward.

Saturday’s first round-robin matches feature Germany against England, Australia versus New Zealand while the Netherlands meet Spain.—AFP
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