Germany coach Bernhard Peters enjoyed a perfect end to his field hockey career by leading his team to World Cup victory over Australia on Sunday.
Peters, who will take over a third division soccer team, worked wonders with his side at half time to transform a 3-1 half-time deficit into a 4-3 final victory.
It was the second World Cup victory for the hosts, who also beat Australia when they won the 2002 edition in Kuala Lumpur.
PHOTO: EPA
"Of course I am happy with the performance of my team and the way they stayed with the game plan through the match," Peters said.
Australia started without Jamie Dwyer, who was injured in the previous match against South Korea.
And their tactic of playing high against Germany's deep defense in the first half, looking for gaps or mistakes in Germany's backfield, led to Germany's opener.
Christopher Zeller beat two defenders in Australia's circle and fired a shot into the right side of goal from near the penalty spot after 18 minutes.
Australia hit back a minute later with a penalty corner conversion by full back Mark Knowles, and again three minutes later with a penalty corner goal by Matthew Naylor high into the net.
Germany attacked again, earning a penalty corner but had to go in for the interval 2-1 down after Australia 'keeper Stephen Mowlam tipped Zeller's high flick over the bar.
Troy Elder broke through Germany's defense on the left four minutes after the restart, passed in to Robby Hammond whose shot was not stopped cleanly by Ulrich Bubolz, Germany's goalkeeper. Elder followed through to tap the loose ball into goal for Australia to lead 3-1.
Germany opened up Australia's defense again 11 minutes into the second half with a long pass into the circle for Moritz Fuerste, who deflected past Mowlam from 5m in front of the left post.
Bjoern Emmerling scored a spectacular equalizing goal making a diving backstick hit which looped over Mowlam into the back of the goal.
Zeller then beat Australia's Aaron Hopkins into the circle to score the winning goal past Mowlam from the left for Germany to take the lead 4-3 with 16 minutes on the clock.
Luke Doerner had a chance to level four minutes from time but he put his flick on to the left post.
Australia's assistant coach, Colin Batch said: "Germany is a very good team and they played very well so it is no disgrace to lose against Germany."
"First, congratulations to Germany for putting on a fantastic tournament and playing a great second half today to be very deserving winners," Barry Dancer, Australia's coach said.
"The group is in a state of shock, questioning what happened, trying to deal with the emotions," Dancer said.
"To Germany's credit they kept coming at us after we went up 3-1 and it possibly slipped away from us in the five minutes after our third goal," said Brent Livermore, Australia's captain.
In other matches, Pol Amat scored a golden goal one minute into extra time to give Spain a 3-2 victory over South Korea and third place.
Neither team could break the 2-2 deadlock inside 70 minutes and the match went into 15 minutes of extra time.
However Amat settled matters within the first minute, making a backstick flick from wide on the left of the circle over Myung Lee and into goal to provoke wild celebrations by Spain on the pitch.
Earlier, Japan defeated Argentina 2-1 to take ninth place.
South Africa finished last after losing 0-1 to India.
The 11th place finish for India was the country's second worst finish at a World Cup after its last place in 1986 in London, but one place behind it's 10th position finish four years ago in Kuala Lumpur.
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
REUNION: Former Barcelona players Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Miami coach Javier Mascherano are to face their former coach Luis Enrique Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi faces a tantalizing reunion with former club Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup last 16 after both sides on Monday progressed to the knockout phase. Miami drew 2-2 with Palmeiras to go through second in Group A, after the Brazilian side fought back from two goals down to seal top spot. They now face an all-Brazil clash against Botafogo, who lost 1-0 to Atletico Madrid, but progressed from Group B in second at the expense of the Spaniards. Champions of Europe PSG won the group with a 2-0 victory over Seattle Sounders, paving the
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
RSS