Germany outclass Netherlands, India and Japan to win Hamburg Masters 2010
The 2010 edition of the four-nation Hamburg Masters Hockey Tournament held in Germany has been won by the hosts after outplaying Netherlands 5-1 in the last game of the tournament. Apart from Germany and the Netherlands, India and Japan participated in the event.
This was India’s first appearance in the Hamburg Masters after claiming the title in 2003. Japan, who appeared in the competition for the first time in their history, secured and impressed with a second spot finish. Netherlands secured the third position with a single victory over India who finished at the bottom with only a solitary draw and two losses.
The tournament opened with hosts Germany winning 5-3 against Japan. Christopher Zeller scored a hat-trick for the Germans while the other two goals came from the sticks of Oskar Deecke and Christopher Menke. Scorers for Japan included Hiroki Sakamoto, Kazuhiro Tsubouchi and Kenji Kitazato. The game was equal at 2-2 at half time, but was easily won by the Germans in the second half.
Later in the day, the Netherlands played India in a game which saw nine goals from nine different scorers. Netherlands achieved the lead in the 9th minute through Bob de Voogd and shortly afterwards, Robbert Kemperman added another goal. Dhananjay Mahadik pulled one back for India in the 18th minute but soon Jeroen Hertzberger scored the third for the Netherlands. Near the close of the first period, Klaas Vermeulen added the fourth goal and took the game beyond India’s control. Both teams scored twice in the second half with Sandeep Singh and Ravipal Singh scoring for India and Van der Weerden and Constantjin Jonker for Holland.
Germany finished India’s hope of winning the title by securing their second victory of the tournament a day later. Germany beat India with a score of 5-3 in a game which was led by India until 20 minutes from time. India took the lead on three occasions in the game through Sandeep Singh, Rajpal Singh and Dharamvir Singh while the Germans scored through Marco Montag, Florian Fuchs, Max Muller, Christopher Zeller and Moritz Furste.
In the second game of the day, Japan pulled off a surprise by beating Holland in a closely fought 3-2. Japan scored the goal in the 2nd minute through Kitazato and Weerden equalized for Holland through a penalty corner moments later. At the half time mark, Tsubouchi converted a corner to restore Japan’s lead as they went into the break. In the second half, Tomonori Ono strengthened the lead by adding a third after which Holland could only manage to score a single goal.
The last day of the Hamburg Masters required big victories from both Netherlands and Japan for either of the two to win the tournament. Japan finished their tour with a 4-4 draw against India. India looked good to win the game with a two goal lead with score at 4-2 but Nagasawa converted a penalty corner 5 minutes before the finish and Tsubouchi scored a stunner, moments before the final whistle to level the game.
Netherlands, who were still hopeful of gaining the title, went into the match with high hopes against the Germans but the host mauled them with a score of 5-1. The Germans led by 3 goals at half time scored by Fuchs, Furste and Zeller. The rest of the goals came late in the game with Furste and Fuchs adding their second of the night. The only goal for Holland was scored by Jenniskens which proved to be a case of too little and too late for the visitors.
The Germans finished the campaign with 9 points, Japan with 4, Netherlands with 3 and India with a single point. Germany was the only team to finish with a positive goal difference. With three out of three victories, the Germans won the Hamburg Masters Championship for the 11th time in their history. The last time Germany won this event was in 2008.
Christopher Zeller of Germany won the top goal scorer award with 5 goals. Katsuya Takase of Japan won the award for best goalkeeper of the tournament with outstanding goalkeeping and highest number of saves. Florian Fuchs of Germany was declared the most promising player of the tournament. The player of the tournament award went to Germany’s Maximilian Muller
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