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The following are facts on the 21 June Champions Trophy match between Australia and South Korea.
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Champions Trophy Head-to-heads
> Australia and South Korea have played each other 10 times in the competition. The Australians have won five of those encounters and have drawn three. The Koreans have emerged victorious twice.
> At the 2007 Champions Trophy in Kuala Lumpur, South Korea emerged victorious 1-0. The only goal of the match came in the 55th minute from a Jong-Hyun Jang penalty corner.
> The last victory by Australia over South Korea at the Champions Trophy dates back to 8 September 2002, when Australia won the fifth place final 3-0 in Cologne, Germany.
Team Facts Australia
> Australia return for a record 29th Champions Trophy appearance, the most participations by a nation in the competition. The only CT without Australia occurred in Lahore, Pakistan, in 2004, when the Kookaburras boycotted the event.
> Australia will be in search of their ninth Champions Trophy final victory. If they achieve their goal they will equal the competition record of nine final victories by (West) Germany. Holland are also on eight victories.
> Australia will aim to wash away the memory from their 2007 campaign in Kuala Lumpur, where they destroyed Germany 5-0 in the last group match, only to be beaten by the reinvigorated Germans 1-0 in the final.
> Australia's last CT overall triumph dates back to 2005, when Barry Dancer led his team to victory in Chennai, India.
> The Australians are the reigning Olympic champions since beating Holland in the final of the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Team Facts South Korea
> South Korea are making their eighth appearance at the Champions Trophy. They participated in each edition from 1997 to 2002 and in last year's event in Kuala Lumpur.
> South Korea's best finish is runners-up, an achievement they recorded in 1999. They were beaten 3-1 by Australia in the final through goals by Stephen Davies (2) and Troy Elder. Seong-Tae Song, who was voted Player of the Tournament, tallied the lone Korean goal.
Player Facts Australia
> Jamie Dwyer was voted the FIH's 2007 World Player of the Year. With Mark Knowles, the Aussies also have the most recent winner of the Best Young Player Award in their midst.
> Last season, Knowles played his club hockey at the current venue of HC Rotterdam. In 2007/2008, his side made it to the semifinals of the Dutch playoffs and the Euro Hockey League.
> Coach Barry Dancer has drafted in five players who will be making their Champions Trophy debut: Eli Matheson, Nathan Burgers, Kiel Brown, Fergus Kavanagh and Desmond Abbott.
Player Facts South Korea
> Jong-Ho Seo will celebrate his 28th birthday, a day before South Korea's first match
> Jong-Hyun Jang shared top scorer honours with Taeke Taekema at the 2007 Champions Trophy in Kuala Lumpur. Jang converted six penalty corners and scored once from open play.
> His seven goals equalled the top mark for most goals by a Korean player in one edition of the Champions Trophy. Seong-Tae Song also netted seven times in Brisbane in 1999.
> Jang and Song are also the only Korean players to have scored a hat-trick in a CT match. Jang recorded his in a 6-2 win against Netherlands in Kuala Lumpur last November.
Most Champions Trophy appearances by nation - including 2008
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# |
Nation |
First |
Last |
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29 |
Australia |
1978 |
2008 |
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28 |
Pakistan |
1978 |
2007 |
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28 |
Netherlands |
1980 |
2008 |
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27 |
(West) Germany |
1980 |
2008 |
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18 |
Spain |
1978 |
2008 | |
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