The last game of the day started in front of empty stands, a sad situation and even more so because spectators would have been well entertained by the excellent match offered by the reigning World Champions Germany and Argentina.

Germany opened the scoring in the 5th minute by Martin ZWICKER slamming in goal the rebound of a Matthias WITTHAUS’ shot, but Argentina had equalized within a minute with a crafty reverse stick shot by Lucas Martin VILA over sliding German goalkeeper Tim JESSULAT. Germany regained the lead by Martin ZWICKER diving at the second post to deflect a pass and Matthias WITTHAUS added a sumptuous goal, collecting the ball at the top of the circle, turning to eliminate two defenders and shooting out of reach of Juan Tomas ESPINOSA in the Argentinean goal. For the record, this was the hundredth goal of this high-scoring competition

The game continued at high pace, the two teams offering a pleasant display of open hockey. Argentina added a goal just before the break by Matias Enrique PAREDES, pouncing on the rebound of a Pedro IBARRA’s penalty-corner. With only one goal difference between the two teams at half-time, it was everybody’s game.

The second half started with a long midfield battle with few scoring chances, until a penalty-corner in the 51st minute scored by Martin HÄNER at the conclusion of an elaborate combination perfectly executed. Argentina replied immediately by a penalty-corner scored by Pedro IBARRA. Back within one goal, the South Americans pushed desperately to equalize and created some hot situations in the German circle; Tim JESSULAT in goal had to intervene multiple times to protect his goal.

After a confusing sequence when both Maximilian MÜLLER and Pedro IBARRA were shown yellow cards, the last ten minutes of play were intense. Lucas Rafael ROSSI had a chance to equalize from the top of the circle but mishandled the shot. The end of the game was all Argentina, but they could not score again and Germany were obviously relieved to hear the final horn to secure the three points of the win, while Argentina felt hard done with their third loss of the competition.