Germany see off India, SA make Australia suffer

Sydney, April 8: Goals by penalty corner experts Bjorn Emmerling and Bjorn Michael were enough for Germany to see off India 2-0 in a four-...

Sydney, April 8: Goals by penalty corner experts Bjorn Emmerling and Bjorn Michael were enough for Germany to see off India 2-0 in a four-nations mens hockey tournament at the Olympic venue here Saturday. Earlier, South Africa held Australia to 1-1, a result coach Terry Walsh described as unacceptable.

Emmerling and Michael struck within five minutes in the middle of the first half before Germany went back to their defensive game. The Indians were incapable of putting the German backs under any pressure and subsequently had little ball in an uninspiring match. India had a couple of good chances in the second half but poor finishing and two good saves by German keeper Christopher Reitz ensured a clean sheet.

Germany have two wins from two following their 5-1 demolition of South Africa on Thursday while India have lost twice, having gone down 3-2 to Australia in the first match. India play South Africa and Australia take on Germany on Sunday.

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Early in the second half Deepak Sonkhla missed a simple tap-in right in front that would have brought India within a goal and soon after Gagan Ajit Singh had a hard reverse stick shot saved by Reitz. India failed to find any of the form that had troubled Australia the other night, and had little control of midfield.

For Germany, fullback Michael Green was outstanding with more than a dozen perfect one-on-one tackles. The son of an American NATO Army officer stationed in Germany will be a key player come the Olympics in September.

"Basically that performance today I would have thought was unacceptable," Walsh said of Australia’s 1-1 draw with South Africa. The draw was just the tonic for a South African team withdrawn from the Olympics by their own national Olympic committee and crushed 5-1 by Germany last Thursday. While it was only Australia’s second Test of the year, it was South Africa’s sixth.

"This result is a good one for us, it’s a gold medal side we played against," said Springbok coach Giles Bonnet. Australia vice-captain Jay Stacy opened the scoring in the fourth minute, but Australia’s dominance lasted just 10 minutes as the home team ran out of legs. South Africa equalised five minutes in the second half when a diagonal hit by Steve Evans found Greg Nicol on the far post for a tap-in.