Australia will play Belgium for men's hockey gold in Tokyo inspired by the memories of Olympic glory in 2004.

Lithgow is beaming with pride along with Sharp's parents Richard and Tania, who said it was an amazing feeling to watch their son on the world stage.

Blake Govers, who scored as Australia overcame Germany 3-1 in a pulsating semi-final, says emulating the success in Athens 17 years ago has driven Colin Batch's side in Japan.

"Rio has fuelled the fire for five years," said Govers, referring to the 4-0 quarter-final defeat to the Netherlands at the 2016 Olympics.

"But the Kookaburras haven't won a gold medal since '04. So that's an even bigger fire.

"It's not just this team. We acknowledge the past and inspire the future.

"That's what we want to do and it's been a hard road for everyone.

"Gold would mean a lot for me personally. We've put the hard yards in, so you get what you deserve."

Tim Brand put the Kookaburras ahead from close range after seven minutes following brilliant work from Flynn Oglivie.

Lukas Windfeder levelled with a penalty corner as Germany responded quickly.

But Govers, with his 96th international goal and seventh of these Tokyo Games, restored the Kookaburras' lead with a vicious low penalty corner.

Germany forced much of the play in a combative second half with Australia restricted to rare breakouts.

READ ALSO:

Lachlan Sharp secured victory 90 seconds from time after Germany had gambled by replacing goalkeeper Alexander Stadler with an outfield player.

Australia had made the semi-final by beating the Netherlands in a penalty shoot-out and Govers said: "We've quite enjoyed this hard run.

"It's given us a lot of preparation - European teams who we haven't played much of.

"It's been a great experience heading into Belgium and now we've got to to focus on our job."

World champions Belgium booked their final spot earlier on Tuesday by beating India 5-2.

The two sides will battle for gold at Tokyo's Oi Stadium on Thursday evening at 8pm AEST.

Let's turn green and gold for Lachi Sharp.

With Sharp guaranteed a gold or silver medal in Thursday night's match against Belgium, we'd love to see our town get behind our homegrown hero.

We're putting a call out for Lithgow to turn green and gold, decorate your letterboxes, the shop fronts, windows, Main Street and whatever else you want and we'll come and snap a photo and share the Aussie pride and love. Tag us and feel free to send in your pics to the Lithgow Mercury Facebook page.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: