Germany defeated Pakistan 2-1 at the men’s Four-Nations tournament while the Netherlands drew 2-2 with England.
Pakistan showed early speed in the first minute when Shakeel Abbasi flew down the right and his pass found Muhammad Zubair to shoot into the goal.
Germany gradually broke down Pakistan’s midfield defence and earned their first penalty corner in the last seconds of the first half, Jan-Marco Montag converting to level the score. Moritz Furste scored the winning goal as he netted the ball over the defenders.
Pakistan manager Khwaja Junaid was left ruing his side’s inability to finish.
“We missed some sitters and we need to be stronger now,” said Junaid. “We need to finish stronger but we have time to make the improvements we need before the Champions Trophy in New Delhi at the end of the year.”
The loss leaves Pakistan at the bottom of the pool table with one point from the draw against England.
The speed, skill and structure of the 2-2 draw between Netherlands and England highlighted the gap Pakistan must bridge to be competitive with the top five ranked teams.
Jeroen Hertzberger scored early for Netherlands and Jonty Clarke claimed England’s equaliser before the break. Rogier Hofman took the Dutch ahead early in the second half but Barry Middleton was on hand to convert a break-out from a Netherlands press to bring the scores level once again.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 3rd, 2011.
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Pakistan hockey can achieve great victories in future if it gradually involve young players in their team with senior players. however selection should be based on merit .hockey should be promoted in schools,colleges,and other gross root levels.