BHUBANESWAR: Germany edged out England in penalty shootout in a dramatic quarter-final after trailing 0-2 two minutes before regulation time to book a berth in the FIH World Cup semi-finals while the Netherlands joined them with a facile victory over South Korea here at the Kalinga Stadium on Wednesday.

Germany struck in the 58th and 59th minutes through captain Mats Grambusch and his younger brother Tom to take the knockout match to the penalty shootout where they prevailed over a heart-broken England team 4-3, snatching win from the jaws of defeat.

Germany, who had finished second in pool ‘B’ and defeated France 5-1 in the crossover match, face three-time champions and last edition bronze medallists Australia in the semi-final on Friday.

The vociferous spectators thought that England would wrap up the match comfortably after Zachary Wallace (12th) and Liam Ansell (33rd) had given them a 2-0 lead but, to their astonishment, the Germans made a resounding comeback to score goals in the 58th and 59th minutes through Mats and Tom Grambusch, respectively.

Just before that Christopher Ruhr had wasted a penalty stroke in the 57th minute.

When Germany were trailing 1-2 and got a penalty stroke with one minute to go in the match, Mats asked his younger brother Tom to take it. Tom made no mistake from the spot to take the match to the shootout.

Niklas Wellen, Hannes Muller, Prinz Thies and Christopher Ruhr scored for Germany in the shootout. For England, James Albery, Zachary Wallace, Phil Roper struck while David Goodfield missed.

Ninth-ranked South Korea, who had stunned 2016 Rio Olympics champions Argentina in the crossover match on Monday, yet again punched above their weight as they gave a spirited fight to their more fancied opponents, ranked third in the world.

Meanwhile in the day’s second quarter-final, the Netherlands, the runners-up of the last two World Cups, outplayed South Korea 5-1 to set up a last-four clash with Belgium on Friday.

South Korea were the only Asian team that remained in the quarter-finals.

Koen Bijen (27th and 31st) struck twice while Justen Blok (36th), Steijn van Heijningen (50th) and Teun Beins (58th) scored the other goals for the Netherlands.

Inwoo Seo (51st) scored the consolation goal for South Korea.

Published in Dawn, January 26th, 2023