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One finalist has been confirmed but the other remains a mystery after day four of the men's Sahara Hockey Champions Trophy in Chennai.
With a berth in the final the reward for the victor, Australia and Netherlands started the day with a tight battle before the Kookaburras scored late goal to sink the Dutch challenge.
The Netherlands had perhaps the better of general play but Australia made more effective use of their opportunities to take the lead twice in the first half before conceding the lead soon after half time with Taeke Taekema's second penalty corner drag flick.
However with less than four minutes to go in the match, Australian striker Michael McCann went on an unimpeded run to the top of the circle and fired a clinical shot in the low right corner of the backboard.
The victory maintains Australia's perfect record in the tournament and while not at their best today against a determined opponent, they did enough to confirm their tournament favouritism.
While Australia have opened an unassailable five-point lead over their nearest rivals at the head of the table, results today complicated the rest of the competition, with three teams still vying for second spot on the ladder.
The one certainty is that Australia's opponent will be a European team, with Spain, Netherlands and Germany the teams in contention
Although they lost today, the Netherlands is in the box seat to join Australia, although European champions Spain are waiting to pounce if the Dutch slip against India.
Spain easily dispatched Pakistan tonight, with Pol Amat scoring a double to keep their rivals anchored to the foot of the table and winless in the tournament. Pakistan is looking increasingly likely to finish in the bottom two teams and be forced into the battle to avoid relegation on Sunday.
The loser of the fifth place playoff on Sunday will be eliminated from the Champions Trophy in July 2006 and with the BDO Hockey World Cup to be held in Monchengladbach later in the year, the team that is relegated from the tournament in Chennai will miss out on vital match practice against the best nations in their preparations.
After a poor start to the tournament, Germany have worked their way back into the medal hunt after scraping past India by a solitary goal. Germany did enough to improve their standing on the points table by two places to surprisingly remain in contention for the gold medal.
Despite suffering loss and two draws to start the tournament, Germany can still qualify for Sunday's final, however they need an unlikely Netherlands loss to India and a victory of their own over Spain on Friday night to play off for gold.
