Germany eke out fighting win over NZ in Jr World Cup

Six-time champions and title holders Germany continued their fine form and defeated New Zealand 2-1 in a closely-fought Pool C encounter to virtually seal their place in the quarterfinal of the men’s Junior Hockey World Cup, here on Friday.

New Zealand gave Germany a run for their money before the world champions rode on their big match experience to pocket three full points and lead the pool with six points from two games.

New Zealand stunned Germany by taking the lead in the fourth minute through a penalty corner conversion by Sam Lane.

Tim Herzbruch drew level for Germany with a field strike in the 24th minute as both the teams went into the breather locked at 1-1.

It was a neck and neck fight in the second half but it was the Germans who seized the initiative this time through Anton Boeckel’s field goal, a lead which they managed to hold on to till the final hooter.

Germany had earlier defeated Spain 2-1 in their tournament opener.

Germany will next play Japan on Sunday while New Zealand will be up against Spain on the same day.

In the other Pool C match of the day, Spain defeated Japan 4-1 to register their first win of the tournament.

Marc Serrahima (8th minute), Lucas Alcalde Garcia (24th, 37th) and Pablo de Abadal (25th) were the goal scorers, while Japan’s loan strike came from the sticks of Atsushi Sugiyama (48th).

Meanwhile, in other matches of the day, Belgium spanked Egypt 4-0, while The Netherlands routed last-minute entrant Malaysia 7-2 in Pool B.

Belgium’s goals came from the sticks of Phillipe Simar (18th), Henri Raes (27th), Alexandre van Linthoudt (46th) and Alexis Lemaire (60th). Belgium will play The Netherlands in their next pool match on Sunday, while Egypt and Malaysia will fight it out in the battle of minnows.

In the match between The Netherlands and Malaysia, the Dutchmen scored three goals in the first half through Thijs van Dam (19th), Thierry Brinkman (29th) and Bram van Groesen (33rd) before pumping in four more in the second half courtesy Terrance Pieters (40th), Daniel Aarts (44th), Jorrit Croon (49th) and Bran van Groesen who scored his second of the match. Malaysia’s goals were scored by Muhammad Zaidi (59th) and Amirol Arshad (65th).

Earlier in the day, minnows Austria held Argentina to a 1-1 draw in a Pool A encounter. Argentina took the lead through Tomas Domene’s field strike in the 47th minute before Austria drew parity through Oliver Binder’s penalty corner conversion seven minutes from regulation time.