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| March 25, 2003 | Tuesday | Muharram 21, 1424 |
Germany closer to final
IPOH (Malaysia), March 24: World champions Germany stepped closer to the final of the 12th Sultan Azlan Shah Cup when they overcame South Korea to win 2-0 here Monday.
It was scoreless in the first 35 minutes but the powerful Germans settled the encounter with two well-taken penalty corners in the second half.
Timo Wess, who scored against Pakistan, put the Germans in the front in the 41st minute before Max Landshut made it 2-0.
In the earlier encounter, New Zealand shrugged off a late challenge from Malaysia to win 4-2 and keep their final hopes alive.
With the hard-fought win, the Kiwis regained some pride after a 1-6 thrashing by Pakistan on the opening day, Saturday, and condemned the hosts to their second straight defeat.
New Zealand were two goals up in the first 10 minutes, taking advantage of poor defending by Malaysians. Hayden Shaw converted a penalty corner in the 7th minute before Mitesh Patel made it 2-0.
Malaysia surged forward but were let down by poor finishing by their forwards until the 29th minute, when Muhamad Amin Rahim slammed in the team’s first penalty corner of the match.
But New Zealand kept their composure and found the third goal, again from a set-piece, by penalty corner specialist Shaw in the 33th minute.
In the 50th minute, Mohd Riduan Mohd Nasir connected with a long pass from Azlan Misron to beat the oncoming goalkeeper Paul Woodford.
The hosts’ loss was confirmed when Umesh Parag coolly netted the fourth goal a minute before the final whistle for a convincing 4-2 win.
Tuesday is a rest day while on Wednesday, New Zealand will take on Korea and Pakistan will play Malaysia.—AFP
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