Hockey Olympic Qualifier: Our boys in tight spot, Germany on course

Germany virtually sealed their place in the final when they defeated Malaysia 3-0 in the Olympic hockey qualifiers at the Green Hockey Stadium in Kakamigahara in Japan yesterday.

Germany are now on track to earn the one berth from the qualifiers for the Beijing Olympics.

All they need is to win one point from their remaining two matches against Japan and Poland to add to their nine points to make the final.

Malaysia remained in third place with four points and their hopes of reaching the final for a showdown with Germanay hinges on winning the next two games against Switzerland tomorrow and Japan on Saturday.

Japan kept their hopes intact with a 5-1 win over Italy to also garner nine points and need only one point from their remaining matches against Germany and Malaysia to earn a final berth.

National coach Sarjit Singh said after the match that the players were finally showing their form and there were enough chances in the match to have got a point off the match.

“Credit to the Germans as they had too much firepower and were better all round.

“For me the important thing is that the players are finding their form and it should stand us in good stead for the last two matches,” said Sarjit.

During the match Germany had seven penalty corners and only managed to score one goal. Malaysia had only one penalty corner and Mohamed Amin Rahin's attempt hit the bar in the first half.

After failing to score from three penalty corners, Germany netted from the fourth in the 23rd minute when Christopher Zeller pounced on the penalty corner rebound to score the only goal of the half.

Germany started aggressively in the second half and in the 43rd minute they increased the lead through Oliver Korn who latched onto a poor clearance to slot home from close range.

And Timo Wess made sure of all three points when he took over the penalty corner flick from Zeller and made his shot count in the 58th minute.

Sarjit said that they would now have to review their play and ensure the players are ready for the two crunch matches in the coming days.

“There was a lot of positive play today (yesterday) and all the players work as a unit. We could not match the Germans but the players can learn from the experience.

“We must stay focussed. Germany and Japan need only one point to make the final,” he added.