Umpires:
 

GOALS

For today's matches the Warsteiner HockeyPark is sold out for the first time. 14.000 spectators were thrilled to see the promising match Germany vs. Holland. Both teams started off with a lot of pressure, with Holland better chances.

Germany's first chance arose in the fifth Minute when Witthaus stood alone in the Dutch D but failed to hit the ball properly. In the following minutes Germany was dominating play but missed out on chances.

In the middle of the first half the match mainly took in midfield.

Germany gained its first penalty corner in the 27th minute but the Dutch keeper Vogels managed to save Christopher Zeller’s flick. A second penalty corner is flicked by Timo Wess who misses the goal by centimeters.

Holland earns its first penalty corner in the counter move. Confusion in the German D. Goal by Holland dissallowed. Shot on goal by Taekema saved by the goalie, another shot also defended. The whistle went before the ball crossed the line. No goal given.

The match was faster again until half time but no compulsive chances on either side.

Holland started the second half pressureful and managed to gain the lead in the 38th minute. A quickly taken free hit to De Nooijer. Diving goal by R. Brouwer after a pass from the left by de Nooijer. Germany plays faster in the following minutes, too. But instead of Germany managing to equalize the Dutch score again in the 42nd minute. Delmee ran into the D. Shot on goal saved by Bubolz, but the deflected ball rolls towards the goal line. Fumbled by Wess, Brouwer was able to push the ball over the line. Bubolz was unable to regain his position.

This score did not reflect the game as a whole but it highlighted how keenly missed opportunities would be punished.

It looked the match would end this way but then, they found their first goal by Zeller, who converted a short corner with a flick in the top left corner of the goal. Spurred on by the goal, Germany put more pressure on the Dutch defense looking for the equalizer. They saw off two Dutch attempts at a counter attack before finding a goal in the 54th minute. This time it came from a free hit on the D, which Fuerste was able to dive and deflect into the goal, taking the score to 2 all.

Following this, Bubolz was able to save two Taekema short corners, and the cross bar saved another chance for the Dutch to go up in the 65th minute. There was a dispute in the 65th minute when De Nooijer shot towards Duckwitz who was down on the ground. De Nooijer escaped with a green card. The last notable chance of the match came again from a corner flick by Taekema, which was again saved by Bubolz.

This was, by far, one of the best games of the World Cup so far, unmatched in tension and excitement. Both teams must be content with a draw – Germany because they couldn’t convert their field possession to goals, and Holland because they played too passively for large portions of the match.