Great Britain finish ahead of Pakistan at the Hockey Tournament in Malaysia
On the final day (9th Dec) of the Samsung Champions Trophy, the 7th/8th place play-off between Pakistan and Malaysia, with not much at stake, was only played half-heartedly by both teams and not much happened in the first half. Pakistan went into the break with a narrow one-goal lead thanks to a penalty-corner by Imran Muhammad. They increased their lead with a field goal by Arshad Muhammad early in the first period, and the game seemed folded with the Malaysian players looking tired and uninspired. But, as was often the case earlier in this tournament, they suddenly found their legs in the last fifteen minutes and overwhelmed the loose Pakistani defence with successive waves of fast plays. They were rewarded with two field goals in three minutes to push the game into overtime. With Malaysia penalized with a yellow card early in extra-time, Pakistan didn’t waste much more time and Imran Muhammad scored his second penalty corner of the day, a “Golden Goal” that gave the win to Pakistan, however, the team must be bitterly disappointed with their final placing in the competition (7th) as it rules Pakistan out of next year’s Champions Trophy.
In the play-off for 5th/6th place, Spain met Great Britain and won the lead after only a few minutes. Eight minutes later, Spain made good use of a penalty corner. It looked like Spain was going to walk away with the match quite easily; despite Britain being the more active team, but the Spanish became complacent and gave away their lead, allowing two first half penalty corner goals. In the second half, Spain was more alert. Play turned quite physical until a yellow card made both teams more cautious. Spain struggled but survived the period of numerical disadvantage, eventually able to gain momentum again. In the 61st minute, Spain converted a penalty corner, and two minutes later, they put away another corner for the 4-2 end result.
Great Britain tried hard but could only challenge the Spanish when they slacked, unable to keep up when Spain shifted gears. By winning the play-off for 5th/6th place, Spain has also won the added benefit of an invitation to next year’s edition of the Champions Trophy: they join Germany, Australia, Korea, the Netherlands, and Argentina for the tournament in Rotterdam in June 2008. The Fair Play Trophy went to Great Britain.
Samsung Hockey Champions Trophy 2007 – Final Standings
- Germany
- Australia
- Netherlands
- Korea
- Spain
- Great Britain
- Pakistan
- Malaysia
