GLENN Kirkham and his England team-mates saw their World Cup hockey 2010 campaign grind to a halt as they were beaten 4-1 by Germany in the semi-finals in New Delhi yesterday.
Hopes were high for the Perse School hockey coach and his colleagues after an impressive group stage campaign, which saw them become the first to qualify for the last four thanks to victories over favourites Australia, India. Pakistan and South Africa.
But they fell behind to Jan-Marco Montag’s goal from a short corner after six minutes and that became 2-0 five minutes later through Oliver Korn.
Richard Smith pulled one back for England, but Martin Haner re-established Germany’s
two-goal advantage just before the break and Linus Butt rounded off the scoring from a penalty corner.
Germany will face Australia in the final after they beat Holland 2-1 in the other semi, with the Dutch now playing England for the bronze medal.
England captain Barry Middleton, who will have the responsibility of picking his team-mates back up for tomorrow’s bronze medal match, said: “Obviously we’re very disappointed. We found it difficult to break down a resolute German defence and the difference today was the way they played in both circles.”
Head coach Jason Lee added: “Germany’s deep defence was outstanding. I was proud of some of the things we did, but you can’t afford to give a team like Germany a two-goal start.
“Ultimately, we paid the price for a sloppy first 10 minutes.”
Team manager Andy Halliday said: “We now face a test of character to get ourselves back up for the bronze medal game, but we’ll look forward to the challenge which that will present.”
Hopes were high for the Perse School hockey coach and his colleagues after an impressive group stage campaign, which saw them become the first to qualify for the last four thanks to victories over favourites Australia, India. Pakistan and South Africa.
But they fell behind to Jan-Marco Montag’s goal from a short corner after six minutes and that became 2-0 five minutes later through Oliver Korn.
Richard Smith pulled one back for England, but Martin Haner re-established Germany’s
two-goal advantage just before the break and Linus Butt rounded off the scoring from a penalty corner.
Germany will face Australia in the final after they beat Holland 2-1 in the other semi, with the Dutch now playing England for the bronze medal.
England captain Barry Middleton, who will have the responsibility of picking his team-mates back up for tomorrow’s bronze medal match, said: “Obviously we’re very disappointed. We found it difficult to break down a resolute German defence and the difference today was the way they played in both circles.”
Head coach Jason Lee added: “Germany’s deep defence was outstanding. I was proud of some of the things we did, but you can’t afford to give a team like Germany a two-goal start.
“Ultimately, we paid the price for a sloppy first 10 minutes.”
Team manager Andy Halliday said: “We now face a test of character to get ourselves back up for the bronze medal game, but we’ll look forward to the challenge which that will present.”
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