HAMBURG, June 20: Germany edged past Pakistan 3-2 with a last-gasp penalty corner goal by Florian Kunz to win the four-nation Hamburg Masters hockey tournament on Sunday. Pakistan would have won the tournament even if the game had ended in a draw.
Germany were followed by Pakistan, Argentina settled at third and South Korea at fourth. Pakistan now move to Amsterdam to play another four-nation tournament, featuring Germany, India and the Netherlands, on the last leg of their European tour ahead of Olympics in Athens.
Christoph Bechmann opened the scoring for Germany from the spot before Pakistan skipper Mohammad Nadeem equalised a minute before the halftime, tapping in the ball past German goalkeeper Clement Arnold off a Dilawar Hussain free hit.
The greenshirts went 2-1 up through penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas from the penalty spot in the 49th minute after Rehan Butt had broken free on the right flank and passed on to Shabbir Hussain in front of the goalmouth.
Pakistan squandered at least five opportunities in the first session, Nadeem missing twice while teammates Shabbir, Rehan and Kashif Jawwad failing to find the target once each.
Kashif rattled the post twice, while Shakeel Abbasi also wasted two chances. However, Pakistan played superbly in the second half with Waseem Ahmad playing as centre half instead of left half.
Bjorn Emmerling equalised in the 62nd minute for the Germans with a field goal from the left of the semi-circle. Germans then launched several counter-attacks against Pakistan.
Umpire O`Connors of Ireland awarded a disputed third short corner to the Germans just as hooter had sounded for the fulltime. Germany captain Florian Kunz scored the match-winner with a high scoop to the left of Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar who was later declared the best goalkeeper of the tournament.
Argentina v/s S. Korea draw
Seo Jong Ho scored two second half goals to help South Korea to a dramatic 5-5 draw against Argentina on the final day. His brace, however, will not be enough to stop the Asians from finishing with the wooden spoon from the four-nation tournament.
Final standings: (played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against, points):
