Germany made good use of the new format of the Champions Trophy to win their 10th title at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday last. After coming last at the group stage, they played some great hockey in the knockout stages and eventually beat Pakistan 2-0 in the final on goals from Christopher Wesley and Florian Fuchs.
This is the first time they have won the tournament since 2007 while this has been Pakistan's best finish in the tournament since 1998, when they had come second after losing to the Netherlands in the final.
It was three minutes into the second quarter that the Germans took the lead after Wesley flicked in Jonas Gomoll's shot into the right of the net. They had innumerable chances throughout the match but were unable to convert most of them. However, they did score in the dying moments of the game as Fuchs scored his fourth goal of the tournament. Fuchs made good use of the gaps in the Pakistan defence and sounded the board three minutes from the close.
The German side came into the tournament with a very young side and failed to impress in the group stages after they won their opening tie against India. But the team kept improving and first beat England in the quarterfinals before upstaging world No. 1 Australia in the semifinals. Their performance in the final was also far from satisfactory but it was more than enough to beat the world No. 11 side.
Despite being one of the top sides, Germany have had a bad year. In the World League Finals, they finished seventh and in the World Cup they came sixth. This gold would have made up for the disappointing year.
As expected, the fans in the stands during the final kept shouting slogans against the Pakistan team and cheered the German side whenever they got the ball. When the hooter finally went off, the 7,000-strong crowd erupted in joy as if India had won the gold.
FIH suspends 2 Pak players
The International Hockey Federation (FIH) suspended two Pakistan players for one match each and reprimanded another for making obscene gestures after their victory against India in the semifinals.
The two players who have been suspended are Amjad Ali and Muhammad Tousiq while Shafqat Rasool has been officially reprimanded. As a result of the one-match suspension, Amjad and Tousiq had to sit out their team's final against Germany.
According to a statement issued by Champions Trophy tournament director Wiert Doyer, there was a Level 1 breach of the Code of Conduct by all three players and all of them had accepted it during the hearing. The statement further added that the decision was taken after pictures and video footages surfaced in the social media overnight. Interestingly, Doyer had carried out an investigation into the matter and had said `no further action is warranted'.
According to sources, Hockey India's threat of not hosting any FIH event in the future made the world governing body reverse it's earlier decision of just letting the players with official reprimand.
Meanwhile, Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh apologized to the tournament director for the behaviour of some of his players after their victory over India in the semifinals. According to a statement given to the media by FIH competitions committee chairman Ken Read, Shahnaz said, “The incident that occurred after the match between India and Pakistan on 13 December 2014 contained behaviour that is considered unacceptable by Pakistan Hockey Federation and the entire hockey community. As a result I have spoken to my team and explained to them that they are guests in India and as hosts they have been very hospitable to the team. Our opinion is that the behaviour of a few of our players should not have occurred.”
The statement further added, “I have also spoken with the president and the secretary general of Pakistan Hockey Federation who both agree that the behaviour was not acceptable and they would also submit their regrets to our kind hosts Hockey India and the Indian public. I hope that in the true spirit of the game, everyone will accept our sincere apologies that are given without any reservations.”
