Christopher Zeller’s late goal condemned New Zealand to fifth place in Pool B, denying the black sticks who led the game for all of 63 minutes of an incredible tie.

Nick Wilson’s tip in and Richard Petherick’s penalty corner strike had New Zealand 2-0 inside six minutes before Oskar Deecke got one back just three minutes later. Zeller stung the base of the post from a corner soon after in an all-action opening salvo before a two-goal wedge was re-established when Ryan Archibald’s superb right-wing cross ended up on Stephen Jenness’s stick for a simple finish and 3-1.

Florian Fuchs replied was a nicely worked three-on-one move, passed around Kyle Pontifex but Simon Child closed out the half with his first goal on the half hour, calmly flipping home a corner rebound. His second, making it 5-2, came just 45 seconds into the second period, cracking home from the edge of the circle.

From there, though, Germany discovered their scoring touch. Thilo Stralkowski drove home a penalty corner and Zeller got the deficit down to one, finishing off another indoor-style move. And his last act was to flip home his side’s fifth goal from off the ground. It made little tangible difference for Germany who remain in second place and through to play Australia in the semi-final. They will fret over the health of captain Max Mueller who picked up a nasty thumb injury in the first half, not appearing for the duration of the second period.

But for New Zealand it means they are stuck in fifth and destined for the ninth/tenth playoff against Argentina rather than seventh against Pakistan. 

(Stephen Findlater)

Max WEINHOLD (GER)

On the result's significance in preparation for their semifinal: "After our defeat against the Netherlands, we wanted to play well in preparation for the semis. After being behind three goals (at 5-2) and then coming back we showed that we can be great opposition. It wouldn't have been good to be have been beaten, it wouldn't have been good for our morale. It wasn't our goal for today, to draw, we wanted to win, but it doesn't matter too much."

Richard PETHERICK (NZL)

On his feelings about drawing after being so close to victory: "When it's 5-3 with a couple of minutes to go, we like to shut the game out and come away with a win, so it is disappointing. We scored five goals, though, so we are finally starting to link well up front. But we let five goals in so we really didn't defend."

On the New Zealand team's overall performance in the tournament: "It has been a learning curve for all of us and even the first Olympics for some. It has been a massive experience to play on a big stage in front of 15,000 people for most games. As a unit we just haven't performed well. There have been individual moments when we have done pretty well, but in such a tournament you can't get away with just individual play."

Christopher ZELLER (GER)

On the match: "It went up and down. We had a bad first half, made a lot of mistakes and got two easy goals against us. The second half was much better. I'm happy that we scored a goal and had the draw in the last minute. It's good for the morale of the team.

On scoring two goals: "None of my goals was very hard to score. I just had to shoot the ball into the net.

On facing Australia (AUS) in the semifinals: "Australia is the world No.1. It's going to be very hard. It's going to be a very good match for the viewers."

Shane MCLEOD (NZL) - coach

On results to date, and the atmosphere in the dressing room: "Our results haven't been ones you want to be on the end of. You play teams like Germany, with the quality they have and it's never over. There's 70 minutes in a hockey game and you have to play well for the 70 minutes. Our guys are really disappointed, they don't consider that a draw, they very much consider it a loss."