Germany crushes Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, AUG. 7. Bjorn Michel pumped in four goals including a hat- trick as Germany completed a 5-1 rout of hosts Malaysia to go at the top of the table in the Azlan Shah hockey tournament here on Monday. Germany, which was leading 2-0 at the break, scored three goals in the second half to lead 5-0 before Chairil Anwar scored a consolation goal for Malaysia two minutes before the final whistle.

Germany, which has won all its three matches, leads the table with nine points. It plays Korea, which is in joint second spot with seven points, on Tuesday.

Malaysia's ploy of playing an ultra-defensive game worked initially when the Germans were unable to break through their defences. Michel broke the deadlock in the 17th minute when his flick off a penalty corner which beat the Malaysian goalkeeper Roslan. He got the second goal with a smart snap shot from just inside the circle.

Goals came quickly in the second half as the German midfield pushed harder giving its forwards enough space to create moves. Michel got his hat-trick in the 44th minute off a penalty corner. Leading 3-0, Germany slowed the pace of the game after that but never seemed in major trouble even with a Malaysian forward line throwing in their everything.

With ten minutes left, Oliver Domke scored the fourth goal for Germany and Michel made it 5-0 five minutes later. In another match, Pakistan defeated England 4-3 to join Korea in the second place.

Meanwhile, India struggling at the bottom of the table, will need to come up with something special to beat Australia on Tuesday and keep its hopes alive for a top four finish.

India, which has lost two and drawn one match so far, has its task cut out against the Olympic bronze medallists, who have been in ominous form defeating Pakistan 5-3 and thrashing Germany 6-2 in their first two matches.

However, Australia's 1-1 draw against England would have given some confidence to the Indians who went down fighting to Pakistan in a gruelling match on Sunday.

India and Australia last played in the Sydney Olympic Games last year with the match ending in a 2-2 draw. However, both the teams have seen a lot of changes after that. India had a day to recover after its energy-sapping match against Pakistan and if it can play with the same flow while keeping its defence tight against the Australian forwards, it can have a great shot at winning the game.

India's problem has been that of consistency. Goalkeeper Devesh Chauhan has come up with a few brilliant saves, only to let in a couple of stupid shots to negate the effort. That goes for the forwards too. Deepak Thakur has scored great reverse shot goals but fumbled at straight forward chances. That's where probably Australia won't give them an inch but take a mile.

The key again would be the forwards and their conversion ability with a lot hinging on the penalty corners and shooting home the rebounds.

- PTI

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