UTRECHT, June 1: India's woeful tale of missed chances continued right to the wire and they could take little pride in their 1-0 win over New Zealand in a play-off for the ninth and 10th placings at the men's World Cup hockey tournament here on Monday.After repeatedly fumbling in front of the Kiwi goal, India earned their only goal from a 39th minute penalty stroke conversion by Mohammed Riaz. Incidentally, the result was the same as when the teams met in a pool match, last week.
The Kiwis, too, were guilty of blowing half-a-dozen scoring opportunities, even granting that goalkeeper Jagadish Ponnappa had an excellent game.Their sigh of relief when Irish umpire Ray O'Connor awarded a penalty stroke after defender Dion Gosling took Harbajan Singh's attempt on his foot, must have been heard back home. Riaz made no mistake with a low push to the right of the goalkeeper.
And on that note ended India's miserable World Cup campaign. They now have time enough to go home and lick their wounds. The ninthposition here bettered only the 12th in 1986 and 10th in 1990.
GERMANY WIN: Germany, still in quest of their first World Cup triumph, grabbed the third place with a close 1-0 win over Australia, the match-winner coming in the 26th minute of the first-haf through Bjorn Michel.PAKISTAN FIFTH: Later, Pakistan, the 1994 champions, took the fifth spot, their worst ever showing, apart from the 11th in 1986 edition, after they beat England 4-2 in the play-off. Pakistan had won the first meeting in the league stage 7-5, in one of the best matches of the tournament.
As in their first meeting, Pakistan, leading 4-0 on goals by Mohammed Usman (2) and Atif Bashir (2), had to weather an English fightback in the second-half. England struck twice through Russell Garcia and Calum Giles with 14 minutes remaining. However, the Pakistan managed to play out the time.
KOREA PREVAIL: At the Frockey Stadium, Korea overcame a sticky Canada 4-2 to take the seventh spot in the overall standings. All the fourKorean goals were scored by Seong Tae Song while for the Canadians, Robin D'Abreo and Ian Bird struck.
Results: 3rd-4th places: Germany 1 (Bjorn Michel 26th) bt Australia 0 (half-time 1-0).
5th-6th places: Pakistan 4 (Muhammad Usman 9th, 11th, Atif Bashir 13th, 33rd) bt England 2 (Russell Garcia 47th, Calum Giles 57th) Half-time 1-0.
9-10th places: India 1 (Mohammad Riaz 39th) bt New Zealand 1-0 (half-time 0-0)
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
