Australia win 1st match at Champions Trophy

Captain Jamie Dwyer scored twice as defending champion Australia rallied to beat Spain 3-2 in its opening match at the Champions Trophy field hockey tournament on Saturday.Australia, the top seed and an 11-time winner, came back from 2-1 down to beat Spain in its opening match in Pool A at the eight-team tournament.Dwyers two goals lifted him among a group of six Australians who have scored at least 20 goals in Champions Trophy matches and took him past current Australian coach Ric Charlesworth, who scored 18 career goals at the tournament.In other matches Saturday, Olympic champions Germany beat New Zealand 2-1, Britain defeated Pakistan 2-1 and the Netherlands beat South Korea 2-0.Saturdays win was Australias fourth in succession over Spain and improved its record against them at Champions Trophy tournaments to 15-3 with five draws. Australia has won 16 of 17 Champions Trophy matches in which Dwyer has scored.The Australians took only 10 seconds to force the first penalty corner of the match, but it wasnt until the 10th minute that Dwyer gave his team its lead, slotting home from close range.Spain then hit back with two goals within three minutes to take a 2-1 lead into halftime. Gabriel Dabanch scored the equalizer from a tight angle before Edi Tubau burst into the circle and crashed a fierce strike into the bottom left corner of the net.Dwyer pulled Australia level early in the second half and, after Spain had gone close, Des Abbott scored to give Australia the lead with six minutes remaining.Simon Mantell volleyed home a penalty corner with five minutes left to give Britain a 2-1 win over Pakistan and to stay level on points with Australia in Pool A. Pakistan took a 1-0 lead to halftime after Muhammad Imran expertly dispatched a penalty corner flick, but Britain drew level when 34-year-old Mark Pearn scored his first Champions Trophy goal in 10 years.Christopher Wesleys goal with 10 minutes remaining broke a lengthy 1-1 deadlock to give Germany its opening win over New Zealand.After hitting the post from an early penalty corner, Thilo Stralkowski put Germany ahead with a goal from a Christoph Menke pass.Hugo Inglis connected with a pass from Simon Child to score New Zealanders equalizer, and went close to taking aecond at the end of the first half, only to be denied by German goalkeeper Nico Jacobi. The deadlock remained until Wesley sneaked ahead of his marker and deflected Jan Philipp Rabentes pass into the top of the goal with 10 minutes remaining.Britain faces Australia in its second match on Sunday while Pakistan takes on Spain. Germany plays the Netherlands and New Zealand plays South Korea. The gold and bronze-medal matches are scheduled for Dec. 11.