KARACHI, July 3: Pakistan again faltered when they lost 2-0 to Germany in the first game of second pool phase of the Junior World Cup hockey in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, on Sunday.

Following a 3-2 loss against Australia in the last match of first pool phase on Saturday, the green shirts once again had no answer against Germany who earned full precious points.

The defeats against Australia and Germany were not shocking considering shaky start by Pakistan who scored an unimpressive 3-1 win over minnows Belgium before an unconvincing 2-1 victory against underdogs Chile 2-1.

According to information available, Thilo Stralkowski opened the account for former champions Germany in the 26th minute, while Pakistan were reduced to ten players in the 41st minute when Tariq Aziz got temporary suspension.

Germans slammed home their second through captain Sebastian Draguhn who converted a penalty corner in the 55th minute.

Pakistan meet Argentina on Tuesday after a day’s rest on Monday.

In an interesting next pool phase match, Zulkifli Mohd Rejab’s brilliant hat trick including equaliser helped Malaysia force a 3-3 draw with high-flying Australia.

Rejab, who scored all the three goals through short corners, netted his first in the sixth minute before Colin Hennessey equalised in the 27th minute. Rejab again put Malaysia ahead with a 45th-minute goal but his effort was cancelled by Australia captain Mark Knowles in the 58th minute, while Aussies pulled their third via Thomas Cleghorn three minutes later.

Rejab rescued Malaysia by converting yet another penalty corner in the 63rd minute to restore parity which remained intact till fulltime.

In other matches of the day, Spain downed champions India 4-0, South Korea defeated Egypt 4-2 and South Africa thrashed Mexico 9-0.

All the teams of four pools have played each other in the pool once and now top three teams have moved into next pool phase. The fourth-placed teams of each pool will play playoff for 13th-16th position.

In the next stage the four pools will combine to form two groups of six. They will take the points earned against the other qualified teams from their pool and then play their remaining teams not from their original pool to complete five preliminary round matches.

The top two teams in each six-team group at the end of this phase of the competition will advance to the semifinals.

After the first phase, India, South Korea, Australia and Argentina have moved into next stage after remaining unbeaten.