Germany Down Pakistan, Complete Perfect 10

Germany Down Pakistan, Complete Perfect 10

BHUBANESWAR: Germany won the Men’s Hockey Champions Trophy for the 10th time with a convincing 2-0 win over three-time title winners Pakistan in the thrilling summit clash here at Kalinga Stadium Hockey Complex on Sunday. A field goal each by Christopher Wesley and Florian Fuchs enabled Germany regain the glittering trophy after a gap of seven years.

Overwhelming crowd support also came as blessing for Germany, who hardly gave their opponents a chance to score. Germany’s defensive line, marshalled by imperious captain Moritz Furste, did a wonderful job in the match.

Before scoring their first goal, Germany frittered away at least three scoring chances, including two penalty corners. Florian Fuchs missed the best opportunity in the 14th minute. It was a solo move which saw the skillful forward run down the middle from the centre line, dodge past three defenders and reach a vacant slot to score. But his tumbling backhand missed the target by inches.

Four minutes later, Christopher Wesley drew first blood with a superb field goal. With three minutes to go for the hooter, Fuchs struck second goal, once again exhibiting superb skill and athleticism. The Germans would have won the match by a bigger margin had they not missed another two penalty corners in the dying minutes.

On the other hand, Pakistan won only one penalty corner in the entire match and squandered it. Their ability to fight back from behind did not work against a highly improved German team. Despite tarnishing the reputation of the sport and their own country by showing obscene gestures after their semifinal win against India, Pakistan players were allowed to play without any hindrance by a 7,000-strong sporting crowd.

But the flowers, which Pak team’s head coach Sheikh Shahnaz promised to bring to the ground on Sunday for the crowd as an apology for their unacceptable behaviour, did not arrive. When asked about the reason, Shahnaz said he had given `1,000 to a person to bring the flowers, but the person could not deliver it in time.

Germany captain Moritz Furste won the best player of the tournament award, while the awards for best goalkeeper, best junior player and fan’s choice were pocketed by India’s PR Sreejesh, Akashdeep Singh and Sardar Singh. The top scorer of the tournament award was bagged by Jeroen Herztberger of Netherlands.

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