May 23, 2008	Friday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 17, 1429

MOENCHENGLADBACH (Germany), May 22: Germany defeated Pakistan 2-1 in a men’s hockey Test here on Wednesday.

Three goals in the second half broke the 0-0 half-time deadlock. Timo Wess converted Germany’s fourth penalty corner with a flick high into the left of goal and Martin Zwicker collected a rebound from Christoph Menke’s penalty corner flick to volley into goal after 53 minutes.

Pakistan’s first penalty corner was not stopped and no shot resulted however Muhammad Saqlain converted Pakistan’s second penalty corner with a spectacular reverse flick from near the left post into the top right of goal 5 minutes later.

Saqlain was prominent all the match directing the midfield and pushing passes into space. Strikers Shakeel Abbasi and Rehan Butt always threatened but had lost some of their touch following an arduous journey from the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup in Ipoh, Malaysia where Pakistan took fourth place, losing 2-1 to New Zealand last Monday.

Pakistan Manager Zakauddin was satisfied with the improvement after Malaysia. “It was a very good standard of play and a better show than we had in Malaysia,” Zakauddin said. “It is good to play against the best team in the world.

“We need to improve with more concentration when we take our penalty corners although our defence was good today and we will continue with this defence,” added Zakauddin.

Germany coach Markus Weise was pleased with the opportunity to play Pakistan. “We are in a training phase so it is important to play internationals like Pakistan because it is difficult to simulate their style in training,” Weise said.—AFP