The Hindu : Sport / Olympic Games : Golden goal gives Germany bronze

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Aug 28, 2004

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Sport - Olympic Games

Golden goal gives Germany bronze

By Kamesh Srinivasan

Germany 4 Spain 3

Pakistan 4 New Zealand 2

Britain 4 South Africa 3

Argentina 4 Egypt 2

ATHENS, AUG. 27. A golden goal by Bjoern Michel in the 10th minute of extratime helped Germany to the bronze medal, as it beat Spain 4-3. It was an improvement for Germany after its fifth placing in Sydney. It had won the gold in 1992 and 1972.

Two penalty stroke conversions by Santiago Freixa and Eduardo Aguilar, four minutes either side of half-time, saw Spain trouble the World No. 1 team. Tubau scored one more to help his team to a 3-2 lead by the 47th minute.

However, Germany played hard and equalised through Bjoern Emmerling in the 49th minute. Sascha Reinelt and Eike Duckwitz had scored the two goals earlier to keep Germany in the race.

It was an improvement for Spain also, as it had taken the ninth position in Sydney. Its best was winning the silver in 1996 and 1980.

Pakistan rallies well

Pakistan beat New Zealand 4-2, after trailing 1-2 at half-time, to clinch the fifth position. It was once again penalty corner specialist Sohail Abbas who called the shots, scoring three goals, that took his tally to 11 in the tournament. It was the maximum by a player, and one more than Lee Jung Seon of Korea. Abbas had 10 penalty corner conversions, from 23 attempts, apart from a penalty stroke conversion.

Kashif Jawad scored the other goal for Pakistan. Gareth Brooks and Darren Smith fetched the goals for New Zealand.

In the match for the ninth place, Britain beat South Africa 4-3 in the tie-breaker after the teams were locked 1-1 at the end of extratime. Guy Fordham scored for Britain and Greg Nicol equalised for South Africa.

In the tie-breaker, Ben Hawes, Graham Moodie, Brett Garrard and Danny Hall succeeded for Britain, while Niall Stott's attempt was saved by the South African goalkeeper, David Staniforth. Ian Symons, Gregg Clark and Greg Nicol converted the first three attempts for South Africa, but Wayne Denne missed the fourth chance and Craig Fulton's attempt was blocked by the British goalkeeper Simon Mason.

Argentina took the 11th spot beating Egypt 4-2, after leading 2-1 at the interval. Mario Almada scored three goals after Carlos Retegui had put Argentina ahead. Mohamed El Sayed and Sameh Mohamed scored for Egypt.

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