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| September 18, 2006 | Monday | Sha'aban 24, 1427 |
Germany come from behind to retain title: Pakistan end up in sixth spot
MONCHENGLADBACH (Germany), Sept 17: Germany coach Bernhard Peters enjoyed a perfect end to his field hockey career by leading his team to World Cup victory over Australia on Sunday.
Peters, who will take over a third division football team, worked wonders with his side at half time to transform a 3-1 half-time deficit into a 4-3 final victory.
It was the second World Cup victory for the hosts, who also beat Australia when they won the 2002 edition in Kuala Lumpur.
“Of course I am happy with the performance of my team and the way they stayed with the game plan through the match,” said Peters, ahead of his ensuing stint with Hoffenheim football club.
Australia started without Jamie Dwyer, who was injured in the in the semi-final against South Korea on Friday.
And their tactic of playing high against Germany's deep defence in the first half, looking for gaps or mistakes in Germany's backfield, led to Germany's opener.
Christopher Zeller beat two defenders in Australia's circle and fired a shot into the right side of goal from near the penalty spot after 18 minutes.
Australia hit back a minute later with a penalty corner conversion by full back Mark Knowles, and again three minutes later with a penalty corner goal by Matthew Naylor high into the net.
Germany attacked again, earning a penalty corner but had to go in for the interval 2-1 down after Australia 'keeper Stephen Mowlam tipped Zeller's high flick over the bar.
Troy Elder broke through Germany's defence on the left four minutes after the restart, passed in to Robby Hammond whose shot was not stopped cleanly by Ulrich Bubolz, Germany's goalkeeper.
Elder followed through to tap the loose ball into goal for Australia to lead 3-1.
Germany opened up Australia's defence again 11 minutes into the second half with a long pass into the circle for Moritz Fuerste, who deflected past Mowlam from five metres in front of the left post.
Bjoern Emmerling scored a spectacular equaliser goal making a diving backstick hit which looped over Mowlam into the back of the goal.
Zeller then beat Australia's Aaron Hopkins into the circle to score the winning goal past Mowlam from the left for Germany to take the lead 4-3 with 16 minutes on the clock.
Luke Doerner had a chance to level four minutes from time but he put his flick on to the left post.
Australia's assistant coach, Colin Batch said: “Germany is a very good team and they played very well so it is no disgrace to lose against Germany.
“First, congratulations to Germany for putting on a fantastic tournament and playing a great second half today to be very deserving winners,” Barry Dancer, Australia's coach said.
“The group is in a state of shock, questioning what happened, trying to deal with the emotions,” Dancer said.
“To Germany's credit they kept coming at us after we
went up 3-1 and it possibly slipped away from us in the five minutes after our third goal,” said Brent Livermore, Australia's captain.
In other matches Pol Amat scored a golden goal one minute into extra time to give Spain a 3-2 victory over South Korea and third place.
Neither team could break the 2-2 deadlock inside 70 minutes and the match went into 15 minutes of extra time.
However Amat settled matters within the first minute, making a backstick flick from wide on the left of the circle over Myung Lee and into goal to provoke wild celebrations by Spain on the pitch.
In earlier matches Japan defeated Argentina 2-1 to take ninth place.
South Africa were landed with 12th and last place after losing 0-1 to India.
The 11th place finish for India was the country's second worst finish at a World Cup after its last place in 1986 in London but one place behind their 10th position finish four years ago in Kuala Lumpur.
England scored the only goal in the 67th minute to earn a 1-0 victory over Pakistan and fifth place playoff on Saturday.
Pakistan, who finished sixth, have taken a backward step as they finished fifth at the last two World Cups.
James Tindall dispossessed Mohammad Saqlain near the left of the circle and drove to the front of goal where Martin Jones was unmarked to make an easy push into goal.
Pakistan conceded six penalty corners and had two players suspended for 10 minutes each in the match but England could not score against 10 players.
Sohail Abbas had only one chance to convert a penalty corner and his flick knocked England's goalkeeper off his feet but he saved the shot.
Shahnaz Sheikh, Pakistan's coach, believes his players did not play as well in this match as they had in other matches in the tournament.
“After we beat Netherlands I expected the players to do better in this match,” Shahnaz said.
Shahnaz would not be drawn on his future as the coach of Pakistan.
“I have to go back to Pakistan and consult with my department and with my family before I make a decision,” Shahnaz said. “Maybe I will continue on with the team to the Asian Games.”
Jason Lee, England's coach, was delighted to make fifth place. “To finish fifth when we came in to the tournament ranked eleventh means we have had an excellent tournament,” Lee said.
“I want to be able to repeat this performance and make similar progress next year to make sure we can keep progressing with confidence,” Lee said.
—AFP
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