Quemada double downs Pakistan

Spain 4-2 Pakistan

Penalty corner ace Pau Quemada was the hero of the hour as he helped Spain record a 4-2 victory over Pakistan. With the score locked at 2-2, Quemada found the target twice in eight minutes to give Spain their first win of the Owen G Glenn FIH Champions Trophy following their defeat against Australia on Saturday. The win moves Spain up to second in the Pool A table, leap-frogging Great Britain – who they face on Tuesday – thanks to a superior goal difference.  

It took Spain just three minutes to take the lead in the contest when Santi Freixa picked up a penalty corner rebound and ruthlessly slammed the ball into the Pakistan goal. However, Pakistan were level just before the ten minute mark when dazzling attacker Shakeel Abbasi punished some weak Spanish defending by squeezing the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Francisco Cortes.  

Both sides were reduced to ten players in the 24^th minute when umpire Murray Grime handed out yellow cards to Spain’s Roc Oliva and Waseem Ahmed of Pakistan for an ugly looking clash. Just a minute after the incident, Spain re-established their advantage thanks to Jorge Dabanch who made space for himself with a superb first touch before cracking home on his reverse stick. Shakeel Abbasi went close to tying the scores moments before half time, but his diving deflection travelled just wide of the target.

World record goal scorer Sohail Abbas produced a moment of magic from a penalty corner six minutes into the second half to restore parity. The 36-year-old stepped up to the mark and sent a flick rocketing into the roof of the net, giving Spanish keeper Cortes absolutely no chance of saving.  However, Abbas was to be outdone on the day by Spain’s very own penalty corner specialist, Pau Quemada. The Belgium based Spaniard put his team back in front in the 57^th minute with an accurate flick, before adding his second and Spain’s fourth with another set piece effort five minutes from the end of the game.

Pakistan rallied towards the end of the game but were thwarted by a Spanish side that was determined to claim all three points. 

Spain - Pakistan 4-2 – Owen G Glenn FIH Champions Trophy Men 2011

> Australia have qualified for the next round following Spain’s 4-2 victory over Pakistan.
> Pakistan will go the Pool D playing for place 5-8.
> The winner of tomorrow's Spain - GB match will go through to Pool C. A draw will see Spain progress on goal difference.
> Spain recorded their first CT win over Pakistan since 2006 (3-2).
> Spain converted 3 of 6 PCs awarded in this match and are now on 3 for 10 at Auckland 2011.
> Pakistan converted 1 of 3 PCs today and are now on 2 for 7 at this tournament.
> Santi Freixa scored his 32nd CT career goal and his first since scoring twice against New Zealand in 2010. Freixa scored 4 of his 32 CT goals against Pakistan.
> Gabriel Dabanch scored his 2nd goal this tournament, only Jamie Dwyer (AUS) has scored more (3).
> Pau Quemada scored twice to list his CT total to 17 goals, including 11 from penalty corners, only 2 behind Santi Freixa's Spanish record of 13 PC goals in CT competition.
> Sohail Abbas scored his 41st CT goal and his 37th PC goal. Only Taeke Taekema has converted more penalty corners in CT competition (42 PC goals before today’s match vs GER).
> Pakistan’s Shakeel Abbasi scored his 8th CT career goal and his first against Spain. His last CT goal dated back to December 2007: Pakistan - Korea 3-3.

Spain - Pakistan (5 Dec 2011, 12:05) – Owen G Glenn FIH Champions Trophy Men 2011

Head-to-heads
> Pakistan have won 8 of their 16 Champions Trophy matches against Spain losing 4 (8W-4D-4L).
> Their last CT encounter came at Kuala Lumpur 2007 and saw Pakistan win 2-0, through goals by Waqas Sharif and Akhtar Ali.
> Spain’s last Champions Trophy victory over Pakistan dates back to 2006 (3-2).
> The last world level encounter between these teams came at the 2010 World Cup and saw Pakistan beat Spain 2-1 through two goals by Abdul Haseem Khan. David Alegre scored for Spain.
 
 
Spain Facts
> At an average age of 26 years and 266 days Spain are the second oldest squad at Auckland 2011. Only Great Britain are older (28 years - 8 days).
> Spain are ranked fourth on the world ranking. Their best CT result came in 2004 when they won the Champions Trophy beating Netherlands 4-2 in the final.
> Santi Freixa is Spain’s top goalscorer in CT competition having scored 31 goals in 39 CT matches.
> Spain went down 3-2 to Australia on Day 1. 
> Spain (0 for 4) are one of four teams that failed to score from penalty corners on Day 1.
> The Spain defence saw 1 of 5 penalty corners awarded against Spain be converted.
> Eduard Tubau scored his 20th CT goal in the match against Australia. He is now one of four Spanish players with at least 20 CT goals to his name. The others are Santi Freixa (31), Javier Arnau (27) and Pablo Amat (21).
 
 
Pakistan Facts
> Pakistan are ranked 9th in the world and are the lowest ranked team present at Auckland 2011.
> Pakistan have won the Champions Trophy 3 times and have collected 15 CT medals. Their last medal came in 2004 when they finished 3rd in Lahore.
> Pakistan lost their opening match going down 2-1 to Great Britain.
> Pakistan converted 1 of 4 penalty corners awarded in that match.
> Muhammad Imran has scored Pakistan's last 3 PC goals in CT competition. He converted once against Great Britain on Day 1 and he scored twice in Pakistan's 3-2 win over Malaysia in the 2007 Final 7-8.
> At an average age of 24 years and 91 days Pakistan is the youngest team at Auckland 2011.
> 16-year-old Muhammad Tauseeq is the youngest player at Auckland 2011 and one of four teenagers on the Pakistan team joining Muhammad Rizwan (age 17), Syed Kashif Shah (18) and Ali Shan (18). 
> Pakistan are on 394 CT goals and need 6 more to become the third team after Australia (487  goals) and Netherlands (477) to reach 400 CT goals.