The second but last day of pool play at the Samsung Champions Trophy in Kuala Lumpur started off with another rain delay, pushing all matches back by one hour. When the match day finally got underway, Australia drew with the Netherlands, Pakistan and Korea parted ways with the same result, Spain dispatched Britain, and Germany defeated Malaysia.
Delayed by an hour due to heavy rainfall, the day started with a milestone encounter as the Netherlands and Australia lined up for the 500th match in the 29 year Champions Trophy history. In a fiercely disputed match of evenly matched opponents, it was 21-year-old Jeroen Hertzberger who got the Dutch on the scoreboard first with his first international goal.
Despite the fact that the Netherlands had slight advantages, it was Australia who scored next, as Russell Ford batted a high ball into the net. Oranje replied three minutes later, reclaiming the lead when Taeke Taekema sunk his second penalty corner of the competition. The Kookabburras replied as quickly, bringing the ball into the circle again for Eddie Ockenden to use the confusion of an overcrowded circle to push the ball past Guus Vogels.
Four minutes into the second half, Matthijs Brouwer received the ball unmarked on the edge of the circle and did not hesitate, launching a shot in turning that Stephen Lambert had no chance to ward off. The Netherlands were back in the lead, and managed to hold on to it for the better part of the second half, until Luke Doerner converted a penalty corner with his specialty, the powerful dragflick.
Despite being the superior team for much of the game, the Dutch could not seize the lead again and ended up slitting the points, finding themselves in a difficult position to still reach the final now: they need to beat Pakistan, and hope for Korea and Australia to both lose.
The game between Pakistan and Korea was played in difficult conditions, with heavy rain and a flooded pitch. Korea scored early by Jong Ho Seo. They dominated the proceedings in first half but could not increase their lead, with a lot of unforced errors on both sides breaking down the plays. In one of their rare incursions in the Korean circle, Pakistan managed to tie the score by Shakeel Abbasi who ran around three Korean defenders before unleashing a reverse shot in a difficult angle.
Korea took an early lead in the second half with a field goal by Hyo Sik You and another trademark penalty corner by Jong Hyun Jang. They though that they had the game well in hand with their two-goal lead and a good control on the game, while Pakistan was relying exclusively on the talent of their high forwards trying to make the best of the high balls sent to them from the back. Nevertheless, in a span of 5 minutes, Waqas Sharifon with a field goal and Kashif Ali on a penalty corner mystified the Korean defenders to tie the game at 3-3.
Korea will certainly regret having to split the points with Pakistan, as the two additional points of the win would have nearly certainly ensured them of a spot in the Final.
On pitch 2, Spain and Great Britain also had a rain-soaked encounter. In a match slowed down considerably by the conditions, the Brits could never really challenge the Spanish, and had to work hard to keep the scoreline from spinning out of control. After a slow start, the Iberians finally displayed some of their skills and developed a firm grip on the match.
A double-hit with goals in the 22nd and 24th minute by Ramon Alegre and Santi Freixa brought them a 2-0 halftime advantage, and they never looked back. Adding a fantastic goal in the 46th minute as Ramon Alegre dove in to tip a superbly tempered pass from Edi Tubau over the line, the Spanish piled on two more through Edu Arbos and Victor Sojo for the 5-0 final scoreline.
Great Britain tried their best today but simply could not keep up with the unleashed Spaniards. They only had two shots on goal in the whole match, while the Spaniards displayed supreme efficiency, converting both their penalty corners, and scoring 5 times from a total of nine attempts.
As the game between Korea and Pakistan, the last game of the day between Germany and Malaysia was unexpectedly close, much to the delight of the local crowd but probably too close for comfort for Germany. They committed some unusual mistakes in first half and it is only in the 25th minute that Florian Keller opened the scoring on a penalty corner. He added another penalty corner goal with time expired before the break but, despite the two-goal lead, Germany were having a tough time settling their game against the fast Malaysian players.
The game seemed folded when Matthias Witthaus added a goal in the first minute after half-time, but the Malaysians kept playing on a high tempo, launching fast counter-attacks on each ball salvaged from the German attacks. They were rewarded of their tenacity by two superb field goals by Selveraju Sandrakasi then Azlan Misron in the 54th and 62nd minutes.
With the rain falling again hard, the German struggled to control the enthusiasm of the Malaysians in the final minutes, but finally earned their 5th win of the competition to secure their spot at the top of the table and in the Sunday’s Final.
Before the last round of pool play, Germany have thus secured their place in the final, untouchable at the top of the table with 16 points. Korea, 2nd on 11 points, Australia, 3rd on 10, the Netherlands, 4th on 9, and Spain, 5th on 8 points, all still have the chance to reach the final, depending on the combination of Saturday’s result, while Malaysia are definitely in the 7th/8th place play-off. Pakistan are definitely in the bottom half of the ranking, with Saturday’s matches deciding whether it will be the 5th/6th or 7th/8th play-off for them, whereas Great Britain retain the mathematical possibility to reach the final if they defeat Korea by a high enough margin while the Netherlands and Spain both lose.
The Samsung Champions Trophy Kuala Lumpur 2007 continues on Saturday with the final four pool matches that see the Malaysian hosts take on Spain, the Netherlands battle Pakistan, Great Britain step up to Korea, and Australia and Germany wrap up pool play.
Samsung Hockey Champions Trophy, Men
Results day 6: Thursday 6 December 2007
Australia - Netherlands 3:3 (2:2)
11. Jeroen Hertzberger 0:1; 27. Russell Ford 1:1; 29. Taeke Taekema 1:2; 33. Eddie Ockenden 2:2; 39. Matthijs Brouwer 2:3; 64. Luke Doerner 3:3
Pakistan - Korea 3:3 (1:1)
6. Jong Ho Seo 0:1; 26. Shakeel Abbasi 1:1; 44. Hyo Sik You 1:2; 47. Jong Hyun Jang 1:3; 58. Waqas Sharif 2:3; 63. Kashif Ali 3:3
Spain - Great Britain 5:0 (2:0)
22. Ramon Alegre 1:0; 24. Santi Freixa 2:0; 46. Ramon Alegre 3:0; 54. Edu Arbos 4:0; 64. Victor Sojo 5:0
Germany - Malaysia 3:2 (2:0)
25. Florian Keller 1:0; 35. Florian Keller 2:0; 36. Matthias Witthaus 3:0; 54. Selvaraju Sandrakasi 3:1; 62. Ismail Abu 3:2
