Spain played Australia in the FIFA World Cup opening match on Tuesday. The match was like listening to flamenco music- it was spontaneous, with depth, but deeper into the match, Spain began to lose their rhythm. Australia could have taken the lead as early as the third minute, but Blake Govers' dragflick off their first penalty corner went straight to the goalkeeper, Adrian Rafiin. The first quarter was Australia's, as they enjoyed better circle penetration (8 vs 3) and a 62 ball possession with three penalty corners wasted Spain on the other hand did well to defend their citadel. Even though the Australian game plan was taking shape, Xavier Gispert and Enrique Gonzalez combined to put the three-time champions on the back foot in the 19th minute. Gispert charged in from the 23-meter mark after latching onto a cross from Gonzalez, and picked an acute angle to reverse slap the ball into the goal. Four minutes later, Marc Recasens stretched the lead finding the back of the net. The Australians had a quick chat before coming down hard on the Spaniards with five seconds for halftime. Their comeback plan began to yield results. They used a penalty corner variation with Matt Dawson passing the ball to Flynn O'G
