By Jamie Pierce
MELBOURNE, Australia (TheSportsNEXT) December 6, 2012: A controversial goal helped Pakistan defeat the Olympic champions Germany by two goals to one to book them a place in the semifinals stage of the 2012 Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament in Melbourne on Thursday.
Shakeel Abbasi scored both of Pakistani goals while Germany’s only goal was scored by their skipper Mo Fuerste in the first half.
Pakistan has dominated most of the teams in the current edition of the Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament but lacked the execution on most occasions and the same problem continued pegging them back in the first half of their quarterfinal match against Germany as they missed numerous chances which helped German cause.
Germany went up by a goal only in the ninth minute when skipper Mo Fuerste delivered a back flick from on top of the D-area as Pakistani goalkeeper, who has been a revelation in the tournament, couldn’t stop it passing by him into the goal.
Germany entered the halfway stage with a goal advantage and Pakistan were left ruing a number of chances going begging in the first 35 minutes.
Pakistan continued to dominate the possession in the second half and kept attacking the German goal which soon translated into their first goal with Shakeel Abbasi finally managing to sneak one past the German goalkeeper who stood like a rock in the goal for the best part.
With game equalized, it was Germans who came under severe pressure as their forwards wasted various chances due to nervous energy in the business area around Pakistani goal which made the job easy for Pakistani defenders and goalkeepers in many ways.
On the other side, Pakistani forwards upped the tempo and put German defence line under tremendous pressure and soon they got a penalty corner. German goalkeeper was able to stop the direct hit by Pakistani striker but rebound came slowly to another Pakistani striker whose back-stick hit the ball (which is a foul as per hockey rules) and his touch led the ball to another Pakistani striker who passed the ball to Shakeel Abbasi whose back-flick beat the goalkeeper into the net.
German players challenged the goal but the television referee maintained the decision made by the onfield umpire on the basis of the assumption that the ball after hitting the backside of Pakistani striker’s stick didn’t deviate and changed its pace so as to help Pakistan in anyway.
German officials didn’t like the ruling and approached the match officials but couldn’t do more than registering their protest as Pakistan acquired a one goal advantage over the Olympic champions.
Pakistan continued enjoying the possession thereafter and German strikers failed to force the issue until the final couple of minutes when two unnecessary fouls by Pakistani players cut them down to nine men on the field as two of their players including the goal-scorer Shakeel Abbasi were showed yellow cards.
The unnecessary fouls gave Germans the lift they required and they achieved a penalty corner in the final minute of the match but they failed to exhibit their professionalism and lost the opportunity to equalize the game and take it into the extra time.
With this victory, Pakistan entered the semi-finals stage of the Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament for the first time in eight years and this triumph has also ensured them qualification into the next edition of the tournament.
The victory for Pakistan also bettered their bilateral record against Germany as now they have defeated the Germans on 10 occasions as against 12 defeats while six matches between the two sides ended in a stalemate.
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