Daily Times

BHUBANESWAR: Formidable Germany cruised into the quarterfinals of the FIH Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup after registering an emphatic 5-1 victory over listless France in a crossover match at Kalinga Stadium on Monday. Germany will meet England in the fourth quarterfinal match in Bhubaneswar on January 25. Germany was too hot to handle for France as they put tremendous pressure on the opposition and earned the first penalty corner as early as the first minute of the match. However, they failed to convert it. They got another penalty corner in the next minute and faltered again.

France showed signs of improvement and earned their first penalty corner in the sixth minute, but could not capitalise. Germany bounced back again and Miltkau Marco opened the account for them in the 14th minute through a brilliant field goal. The first quarter ended 1-0 in Germany’s favour. The second quarter started with Oruz Timur from Germany getting a green card in the 16th minute. However, it didn’t affect their spirit. Wellen Niklas doubled their lead just two minutes later with another field goal with a fierce hit from the left flank. Germany pressed for more goals and in the process earned two back-to-back penalty corners in the 20th minute. However, France’s defenders stood like a rock to thwart the opportunities.

Germany continued to stamp its authority on France and increased the lead to 3-0 through a field goal by Grambusch Mats in the 23rd minute. They earned another penalty corner in the next minute and Trompertz Moritz converted it with elan to make it 4-0 in Germany’s favour. France tried hard and created their second penalty corner chance in the 28th minute, but could not convert the opportunity. Germany continued their dominance in the second half as well. They earned back-to-back penalty corner opportunities in the 34th minute of the match but failed to grab those chances. They got another chance in the form of a penalty corner in the 44th minute, but couldn’t capitalise. The third quarter finished barren.

In the fourth and final quarter, France gave some resistance to the relentless attack of the Germans. In the process, they got a chance to open their account by getting four back-to-back penalty corner opportunities in the 57th minute. Goyet François converted the last one to reduce the margin to 4-1. They took advantage of Germany’s complacency and got two back-to-back penalty corners in the next minute. However, they were not able to sound the board. In the last minute of the match, Germany created a PC chance and Gonzal Peillat capitalised on it to seal the fate of the lopsided match 5-1 in their favour.