Germany qualified for their 10th Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup final following a 4-1 victory over Junior Asia champions India at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil this evening.
Ben Hasbach opened the scoring for the six-time champions in the eighth minute, while Sudeep Chirmako equalised for India four minutes later. Both goals came from open play.
It was a day of missed opportunities for India as they received 10 penalty corners in the first half and two more in the second half, compared to Germany’s two. They failed to make use of all 13, while Germany converted their first chance through 17-year-old Hasbach in the 30th minute to go 2-1 up moments before the first-half hooter.
The Germans, who came back with fresh and renewed energy after the break, got a second penalty corner in the 41st minute, and Paul Gander converted as Germany went 3-1 ahead. Florian Sperling sparkled in the last two minutes of play by converting the fourth goal.
Germany went on to hold the lead until the final hooter and qualified for the final once again in the 13th edition of the JWC.
Goalkeeper Joshua Onyekwue Nnaji deserves all the credit for an outstanding performance denying the Indians from scoring.
This is India’s sixth entry into the JWC semi-finals. They first made it into the last four in 1997 and qualified for the final only to lose 2-3 against Australia. But they went one better in 2001, winning their first JWC.
This time around, the Indians had themselves to blame for missing the final as they clearly had the opportunity to defeat the Germans but failed to capitalise on it.
For the Germans, they once again proved their resilience and discipline in the game to ward off the challenge and made use of their opportunities to make it count when it mattered.
As for Germany, except for the 2005 event in Rotterdam where they clocked out in 6th position, the Germans had qualified for the semi-finals in 12 other events.
Winning the championship six times – 1982,1985,1989,1993,2009, and 2013, runners-up in 1979 and 2021, and third-placed in 1997, 2001, and 2016.
And having the proud record of winning the title every time the tournament was held in Malaysia – three times. In line to make Malaysia their happy hunting ground for a fourth time?
Rein van Eijk, Germany coach, said:
“Let’s first enjoy the moment that we won the semi-finals. I think it was a hard-fought match. In the first half, we were very lucky not to be down by four or five goals. India played very well, and they took us apart. They did their homework, and we had a hard time even getting into the game. We were very lucky getting 1-0 lead, and India equalised more than deservedly.
The goal we scored before halftime was definitely the game-changer. We made a couple of changes in the second half and played strictly with man-to-man marking, and the Indians were unable to cope with it that way. In the end, it was an amazing game, and also for the Indian fans who recognised what a great job India did.”
C.R. Kumar, India’s coach, said:
“The team did not finish properly. We did not utilise the chances we had in 13 penalty corners. The Germans always play man-to-man markings, and that is the reason why we played short passings and were able to penetrate and get penalty corners. Had we scored two or three goals from the penalty corners, it would have been a game-changer and they would have come under pressure.
We came back very quickly after conceding a goal in the eighth minute and equalised in the next three minutes. But the second goal that we conceded was absolutely unnecessary. Our defender went up and gave a lot of space, and they converted just before the hooter. We also lost the referral and could not go to appeal. I don’t know if it was the hooter that went first or the goal. It happened simultaneously.”
