Post News Network
Bhubaneswar, Dec 11: England and Germany have a tradition of fierce rivalry in football where no quarters are given and asked for. As the beautiful and picturesque Kalinga Stadium here filled up to watch the India-Belgium match, that same intense rivalry crept back into the hockey field. Both sides fought tooth and nail, but it was Germany who finally prevailed through a penalty corner conversion by Moritz Furste and an opportunistic strike by Christopher Ruhr to enter the semifinals of the Champions Trophy here Thursday.
England who had come here with the intention of finishing with a medal will have to blame themselves for the defeat. Modern football or hockey, whatever sport it may be, is all about moving forward. The Three Lions played too many square and back passes and did not really create enough opportunities to win the game. Mark Gleghorne in the middle of the pitch and Alastair Brogdon upfront worked tirelessly, but they lacked the support of their teammates.
The Germans, like they do in many other team sports, combined very well. They always had sufficient numbers while defending with the experienced Furste standing tall with his anticipation and interception. He was also constantly egging the crowd to support the team and the tricolour waving Bhubaneswar hockey fans roared in support every time, the Germans attacked.
Upfront the trio of Florian Fuchs, Jonas Gomol and Moritz Polk were very incisive in their moves and gave a tough time to the England defence. Their speedy runs down the flanks were a constant threat for England. Overall they were the side that deserved to win. In fact Germany’s second goal came off a move down the right flank when Mats Grambusch ran down the right, found Fuchs in the middle who in turn quickly released the ball for an unmarked Christopher Ruhr to scoop the ball in the England net with two minutes to go for the hooter.
The only period of the game that England looked like scoring was in the fourth quarter. They earned two penalty corners, but shot one wide while the other was saved by Nicolas Jacob. They also had one or two half chances, but the Germans were not in a mood to concede any. In their desperation to score, the England coach took off the goalie with 90 seconds left on the clock. But that also did not work for England.
England in spite of dominating the pool stage will now play for 5th-8th place. “It’s disappointing,” said skipper Barry Middleton. His counterpart Furste on the other hand stated that they were confident of winning. “We had worked out the opposition,” stated Furste. “We were not worried about how England played earlier. We played to our strengths.”