Austria 3, Brazil 1

Austria may have earned the win and three points against Brazil today, but the Brazilians earned a moral victory with their best outing at this Olympic Qualification Tournament, holding the Austrian offense in check and scoring their second goal of the tournament. Michael Korper was the lone Austrian player to score in the win, netting the hat trick.

Early on, it looked like Austria would hand Brazil another lopsided loss when Korper easily converted a penalty corner just two minutes into action. But after the goal, Brazil buckled down and held Austria scoreless for more than 20 minutes until Korper struck with a backhanded field goal to extend the lead.

Brazil made the most of its only penalty corner chance of the half when Matheus Borges got his team dancing on the sidelines with the 2-1 marker. It was Brazil’s second goal of the event and Borges has scored them both.

Brazil continued its strong play in the second half as Austria was clearly not running at full steam. Luckily for the Austrians, Korper was on his game as he put in the 3-1 goal to give the Austrians some much-needed breathing room midway through the second half.

Austria now has six points in its two games and is out of contention to vie for a berth in London, despite today’s win. Meanwhile, Brazil is still winless at the event, but today’s lip smacking performance must give the #42-ranked team a glimmer of hope for the future.