Four-Nation Hockey Tournament: Germany beat England to go on top
Olympic Champions Germany won their second game of the Four-Nation Hockey Tournament after they beat England in a close contest on Sunday. Germany obtained a two goal lead before England pulled one back before the half time whistle. The teams scored one apiece in the second half to end the match at 3-2 in favour of Germany.
England started off well when Mackay won a penalty corner off a very good effort by Ashley Jackson which was saved by the stick of Max Weinhold. The Germans thwarted another penalty corner just three minutes later when Simon Mantell’s hit was intercepted by the charging defender. Germany successfully defended a third penalty corner near the 20 minute mark.
After the third English corner, it was Germany’s turn to launch an offensive. In the 23rd minute, a defensive error by Watson almost cost England a goal but goalkeeper Fair had to come off his line to clear the danger. Moments later, the Germans won their first penalty corner which barely missed the goal. After that, Germany didn’t have to wait for too long as Oskar Deeke dived in front of the goal to connect with a diagonal ball to take the lead.
The Germans constantly kept the hosts under pressure and Florian Fuchs took an attempt on goal which was cleared by Fair but only to the edge of the circle. Menke collected the loose ball and was about to shoot when his stick was checked by the English defender. The referee instantly blew the whistle for a penalty stroke and Moritz Furste made no mistake to convert it.
After a two goal deficit, Great Britain missed their fourth penalty corner but was able to register their first goal through Mantell one minute before the half time whistle.
Germany continued with their onslaught in the second half and Fair had to make two brilliant saves to keep England in the game. At the other end, England’s Jackson missed a golden opportunity to level the game when he hit a shot wide of the target.
With only 8 minutes into the second half, Germany went 3-1 up when Tobias Lietz got an opportunity from close range and powered it into the goal. Germany came very close to score their 4th goal from a penalty corner but the effort was deflected away by the goalkeeper’s glove.
World Young Player of the Year Ashley Jackson showed his class by testing the German keeper time and again and with six minutes to go, he scored England’s second goal from a penalty corner. Minutes later, Jackson provided with another cross but none of the English forwards could drill it home and Germany went on to secure a 3-2 victory.
The second game of the day between New Zealand and Japan was a goal fest with Japan edging out the Black Sticks by 4 goals to 3. Japan scored their first goal in the 5th minute of the match through Tomonori Ono. 3 minutes later, they added another following a breakaway run by Kenji Kitazat. However, the goal-spree did not end here as Kei Kawakami converted a pass from Hiroki Sakamoto in the 16th minute of the match to make it 3-0.
New Zealand had no answer to Japan’s attacks and they had barely made it to the opposition goal. Things changed quickly after the third goal when New Zealand earned three penalty corners in five minutes and were eventually rewarded with a goal from Richard Petherick. Japan restored their 3 goal lead soon afterwards through Yoshihiro who made it 4-1.
A violent storm and heavy downpour forced the game to a halt and stands were cleared for safety reasons. After a 45 minute break, play resumed and a wet surface seemed to be favouring New Zealand. Andrew Hayward found the back of the net from a penalty corner and the Japanese lead was reduced to one goal when Marcus Child scored the third goal two minutes later.
The last 16 minutes of the game saw many chances from both sides but no further goals were scored. After the match, Germany leads the table with two victories while England and Japan both have one to their name. New Zealand is yet to win their first game.
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