England coach Lee gives run down of Champions Trophy opponents

IT couldn't get much harder for England at the Champions Trophy, with the current Olympic gold, silver and bronze medallists among those lying in wait in Melbourne.

PLOTTING: England head coach Jason Lee plots a course through the Champions Trophy in Australia (Getty Images)

Up first for Jason Lee's men are the victors from Beijing, Germany, but as England proved at the EuroHockey Nations Championships this summer, they are beatable.

Here's Lee's run down on England's five opponents.

Germany

They're double world champions so you know it's going to be a tough match. I think they were quite surprised that they lost to us over the summer but it wasn't a massive shock to us. We play them a lot and beat them once at the beginning of the summer.

They've picked a similar type of team to us with a few new faces as well.

But we've rarely played against them in major tournaments and it's one of our goals to be at the level where we're regularly playing teams like Germany.

 
Spain

They're under new management this year and their previous regime elevated them into the top four in the world and reached the Olympic final.

But then they had their worst European result for as long as I can remember over the summer and they will be looking to bounce back from that I'm sure.

They've got a few key players who are injured but they've had a strong team for quite a long time so that won't bother them. They've got some good youngsters coming through as well so we'll be wary of them.

Australia

It's been 20 years since either an England or GB team beat them so the players need no incentive to give their all in this one.

We know we'll beat them eventually and it would be nice to do it in Melbourne, their own backyard, in the Champions Trophy.

But we'll play them in the World Cup and Commonwealth Games next year as well so hopefully there will be a few opportunities to resolve that.

 
The Netherlands

Again, it wasn't that big a shock for us to beat them at the Euros because we had beaten them earlier in the summer. They had nine penalty corners in the semi-final and didn't score one of them and they think that's why they didn't beat us.

It was quite embarrassing for them to lose at their own ground. They received quite a lot of criticism for it as well so I'm sure they will want to get their own back.

Their under 21 team won the world cup last year and I know they're taking a few of that team to replace some of the senior players so they'll be hungry to win the tournament.

 
Korea

Nobody gets to see Korea play except at major tournaments so it's difficult to gauge how strong they're going to be. They tend to be a bit of a mystery and because of their geographical location it's hard to know what to expect so we'll just have to see.

I'm sure they'll take a strong team though and will take some beating.