BY TERRY MADDAFORD
In New Delhi
The Black Sticks played their best 20 minutes of hockey at the World Cup but still suffered their heaviest defeat -- beaten 5-2 by defending champions Germany -- to come up well short of their avowed target of a top four or, at worst, top six finish.
New Zealand will now play South Africa for 9th-10th on Friday (11.05pm NZ time) after any hopes of even reaching the 7th-8th play-off were dashed when Argentina hung on to beat a spirited Canada 3-2 in the last pool game earlier today to pip the Black Sticks by one goal on goal difference. Argentina will play India for 7th-8th.
Earlier, upset 2-1 by the Koreans in the second match of the night, the Dutch suffered their first loss but still progressed to a semifinal against Australia on goal difference leaving Korea to play for 5th-6th against Spain.
Germany ended pool play as the only unbeaten team.
New Zealand had it all to play for in their final pool game at the Hero Honda World Cup but simply, particularly for long periods in the first half, they were well off the pace.
Sloppy, often mis-directed, passing led again to a wealth of turnover ball. At the highest level such indiscretions are punished. Forced to play catch-up the Black Sticks seldom looked likely.
“I was not happy with the first half. We were disappointing,” said coach Shane McLeod. “The game, for me, was lost in those first 35 minutes. Our fate was in our hands and we couldn’t do what we set out to.”
Again the shortcomings of a below-strength team were exposed with McLeod later admitting the performance here will open the way for a couple of players at home.
“There are some who will need to look at themselves,” said McLeod but without being drawn on just who is under the microscope.
It was obvious throughout, this team missed the experience Hayden, and in particular, Brad Shaw bring. Coupled with the loss of Simon Child and Phil Burrows the gaps were evident.
After being 0-2 down at halftime following an opportunist deflected goal from Christoph Menke who got his stick to a ball powerfully hammered towards the near post by Florian Fuchs in the 15th minute and from a second grab at a penalty corner 13 minutes later, the Black Sticks dropped further behind 11 minutes after the break.
Again the goal came from a deflection with Philipe Wiite getting his stick to a ball played into the circle by Jan Phillipe Rabente.
Dispirited but not prepared to concede, New Zealand rallied and for the next 20 minutes took the game to a German team unbeaten in 17 previous matches and now just two from equalling Australia’s 20-year-old record of 20 World Cup games without defeat.
From their second penalty corner, the first at the end of the half was a disaster with a mis-trap at the top of the circle, in the 50th minute Shea McAleese, one of the more enterprising Black Sticks, pounced on the loose ball to push home.
Four minutes later it was double delight when Nick Wilson was rewarded with his team’s best goal of the tournament as he ran on to a long ball, controlled well at the top of the circle, beat a would-be tackler and out-thought goalkeeper Tim Jessulat for 2-3.
Encouraged, they went in search of more with Blair Hopping continuing to add midfield impetus by pushing forward from his customary defensive post. Two minutes after scoring their second they again unlocked the German defence but just failed to produce a telling shot.
They successfully defended the German’s third penalty corner but were then undone by two dubious calls from Scottish umpire Andy Mair who handed telling penalty corners to the World Champions.
“I don’t know why we didn’t challenge the calls,” said McLeod. “It is hard to tell what’s going on from ground level but I felt it might well have been worth questioning.”
With a couple of variations, Germany scored from two of those three late set plays to take the victory by three goals which in itself was disappointing for the Black Sticks in light of their spirited fight back.
“Those late goals against us were crucial and in the end cost us dearly as Argentina got up over Canada to push us out of the 7th-8th play-off,” said McLeod. “We came here wanting to make the semifinals or at least the top six which would have been our best ever result but once we lost Phil Burrows I felt we would struggle.”
Ryan Archibald was again their “go to man” but it was too big an ask even for a player of his unquestioned skill to carry the workload he found himself lumbered with.
“Again, I thought Ryan did very well,” said McLeod. “But too often he was left with no partner to work with.
“On the flip side, the young guys have gained from the experience of playing here.”
But, he readily agreed, the World Cup is not the stage to experiment and learn. Only players at the top of their game should set foot on the turf at this level. Too often too many fell short of that.
ENDS
