The Netherlands earned their second win at the Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010 in Delhi, beating New Zealand (3-1), while Germany and Korea added a win to their tie on opening day.
Game 10 – Canada v. Germany: 0-6 (half-time: 0-4)
The first game of day 4 pitted the youngest team of the competition (Germany, 24 years old) lead by the youngest Captain (Maximilian MÜLLER, 22) to the oldest team (Canada, 27) lead by veteran Ken PEREIRA (36). The two teams have not met often, and only once in a World Cup back in 1998 when the match ended in a 4-4 tie with Rob Short, still playing in the Canadian team today, scoring two goals.
Germany promptly took advantage of some sloppy play by the Canadian defense to take the lead by Benjamin WESS, pushing the ball past Dave CARTER in the Canadian goal. The match was played without much tempo and there were no clear chances for a while at either end. Germany had two penalty-corners in a row, but they were well defended by Dave CARTER and Paul WETTLAUFER on the line.
The pressure was nonetheless on Canada; they had a reprieve thanks to a quick whistle by umpire David GENTLES blowing a penalty-corner just when the ball was rolling in goal, but Germany came back with a vengeance and quickly scored two penalty-corners in a row, first by Jan-Marco MONTAG then by Maximilian MÜLLER, to build a comfortable cushion.
Rob SHORT and Ken PEREIRA were trying to rally the troops in midfield, but there were long sequences when the Germans were monopolizing the ball, progressing inexorably towards goal. Martin HÄNER added a forth penalty-corner goal in the 27th minute, and it was clear that it would be a long match for the Canadians, obviously not in a good day, struggling physically and losing most of the duels.
Germany had two penalty-corners at the beginning of second period, however Canada had now found the key and defended them well. The Canadians were indeed playing much better now and threatened the German circle on occasions, with a good chance for Mark PEARSON with a sharp reverse stick shot.
After the two teams traded yellow cards, Canada could not prevent another goal in the 58th minute by Florian FUCHS, left with an easy tap-in after a circle penetration by Matthias WITTHAUS. Youngster FUCHS, 18 years old, added another goal a few minutes later, his tenth goal in nine international games! Canada had a late chance on penalty-corner but they could not control it and the World Champions cruised to a comfortable win to avenge the tie against Korea in their opening game.
Match facts (Canada vs. Germany):
> Germany won 6-0 to hand Canada their biggest World Cup defeat ever.
> Canada had never lost by more than four goals in World Cup competition.
> Today’s 6-0 victory also marked the joined second biggest World Cup win for Germany and their biggest in 32 years since beating India 7-0 in 1978.
> Germany equaled the Pakistan’s longest World cup unbeaten streak by avoiding defeat in their 15th consecutive World Cup match. Only Australia have ever set a longer WC run without defeat (20 matches).
> Benjamin Wess and Florian Fuchs (GER) joined David Alegre (ESP) and Ashley Jackson (ENG) as players to have scored in both of their team’s matches at the 2010 World Cup.
> Florian Fuchs (GER) scored twice against Canada. He has now netted three goals at the 2010 World Cup.
> Germany skipper Max Mueller became the third captain to score at the 2010 World Cup, joining Jamie Dwyer (AUS, 2 goals) and Rajpal Singh (IND, 1 goal).
> Canada are still to collect their first points at Delhi 2010.
> Germany are now on four points from two matches.
Game 11 – Argentina v. Korea: 2-1 (half-time: 0-0)
Argentina and Korea have not met in World Cup action since 1994 in Sydney, when current Korean Coach Seok Kyo SHIN was still playing for his country.
Argentina started the match at full speed, creating two dangerous situations with a first shot crashing on the post and another one barely saved by Myung Ho LEE in the Korean goal. Korea replied at the other end by Eun Seong HONG (KOR), penetrating the circle down the baseline, but he could not shoot on target. Korea had two penalty-corners in a row, well saved by Juan Tomas ESPINOSA in the Argentinean goal, while at the other end Pedro IBARRA propelled his drag flick wide on the first penalty-corner for the South Americans.
Just like the previous one, this game lacked sustained tempo, as if the teams were not stimulated to play in a stadium nearly empty when India is not on the daily schedule, and half-time was reached without any goal.
The two teams managed to neutralize each other, with very few scoring opportunities, until the 53rd minute when Facundo CALLIONI concluded a long sequence of intense action in front of the Korean goal to score the first Argentinean goal of the competition. Korean tied the score a few minutes later by Nam Yong LEE, deflecting from close range a cross from the right.
Argentina had a few more penalty-corner chances but Pedro IBARRA was not in his usual lethal form and the score remained tied until the final minute when Korea earned a penalty-corner after a video-referral and this time Hyun Woo NAM managed to slot his low shot past Juan Tomas ESPINOSA to win the game on the wire, leaving Argentina dejected and without a point.
Match Facts (Argentina v. Korea):
> Korea beat Argentina 2-1 as Nam Hyun-Woo converted a penalty corner in the last minute of the match.
> Korea also pulled this trick in the 2006 World Cup. In their match against India they scored the winning goal in the 69th minute by converting a penalty corner.
> Facundo Callioni scored Argentina’s first goal at Delhi 2010 and the first World Cup goal for Argentina since Rodrigo Vila scored in the 2006 Final 9-10 against Japan (2-1).
> Lee Nam-Yong scored the equaliser for Korea. He joins Benjamin Wess (GER), Florian Fuchs (GER), David Alegre (ESP) and Ashley Jackson (ENG) as players to have scored in both of their team’s matches at the 2010 World Cup.
Game 12 – New Zealand v. Netherlands: 1-3 (half-time: 1-3)
The last match of the day between New Zealand and The Netherlands started with a bang! Black Sticks Captain Phillip BURROWS sneaked in the Dutch defense to deflect the ball in goal in the first minute of play and shortly after Ronald BROUWER was on hand to pick up the rebound after a reverse stick shot by Teun DE NOOIJER was stopped by Kyle PONTIFEX. Two goals in less than two minutes. The avalanche continued a few minutes later when Taeke TAEKEMA made no mistake to score his forth penalty-corner of the competition.
The game kept going on the same high tempo, with action at both ends of the pitch and chances for The Netherlands on penalty-corners and a golden opportunity for Nicholas WILSON in front of Guus VOGELS, but the Dutch keeper held his ground firmly. Jeroen HERTZBERGER increased the lead in the 27th minute with an instant shot from the top of the circle that seemed to surprise Kyle PONTIFEX. New Zealand scrambled a chance to reduce the gap on a penalty-corner and half-time was reached with two-goal lead for The Netherlands.
Teun DE NOOIJER forced a penalty-corner early in second period but it was superbly saved by the Black Sticks defense. At the other end, designated drag flicker Andrew HAYWARD, who was so efficient at the World Cup Qualifier in Invercargill (7 PC goals), was firing blanks tonight and the danger came once again from Phillip BURROWS who propelled a missile on the post so hard that the rebound hit and injured his teammate Nicholas WILSON.
Despite some hot situations at both ends, no goal was scored in this period and The Netherlands joined England as the only teams in the competition with maximum points (two wins).
Match facts (New Zealand v. Netherlands):
> The Netherlands join England as the only team to have won maximum points from their first two matches.
> With only one goal conceded, the Dutch have allowed least goals so far at Delhi 2010.
> Taeke Taekema converted one of five penalty corners in this match to lift his Delhi 2010 PC tally to 4. This brings him to the top of the goals scorer list.
> Only 2 minutes into the match, both teams had already scored a goal.
> The last time two teams scored one goal each within 10 minutes from the start of the match, was in the 2002 semi-final Germany-Korea (3-2), when the score was 1-1 after 7 minutes.
> Ronald Brouwer (NED) scored his 4th WC goal and his first in 2010.
> Dutch side Rotterdam saw two of their players score in this match: Phillip Burrows (NZL) and Jeroen Hertzberger (NED).
The Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010 continues on Thursday in Delhi when South Africa face Australia, England meet Pakistan and Spain conclude the day against host india.
For additional information, pictures, video clips, official game sheets, and more, please check the special FIH event site @ http://www.worldhockey.org/worldcup/.
Hero Honda FIH World Cup 2010 (men) – Delhi, India
Results Day 4 - Wednesday 3 March 2010
Canada v. Germany 0:6 (0:4)
GER 3mn Benjamin WESS (FG) 0:1
GER 21mn Jan-Marco MONTAG (PC) 0:2
GER 22mn Maximilian MÜLLER (PC) 0:3
GER 27mn Martin HÄNER (PC) 0:4
GER 58mn Florian FUCHS (FG) 0:5
GER 63mn Florian FUCHS (FG) 0:6
Argentina v. Korea 2:1 (0:0)
ARG 53mn Facundo CALLIONI (FG) 1:0
KOR 62mn Nam Yong LEE (FG) 1:1
KOR 70mn Hyun Woo NAM (PC) 1:2
New Zealand v. Netherlands 1:3 (1:3)
NZL 1mn Phillip BURROWS (FG) 1:0
NED 2mn Ronald BROUWER (FG) 1:1
NED 8mn Taeke TAEKEMA (PC) 1:2
NED 27mn Jeroen HERTZBERGER (PC) 1:3
Pool Standings:
Pool A: 1) Netherlands 6 pts 2) Germany 4 pts (+6) 3) Korea 4 pts (+1) 4) New Zealand 3pts 5) Argentina 0 pt (-4) 6) Canada 0 pt (-7)
Pool B: 1) England 6 pts 2) Australia 3 pts (+2) 3) Spain 3 pts (+1) 4) India 3 pts (0) 5) Pakistan 3 pts (-2) 6) South Africa 0 pt
