Germany lifts Hockey Junior World Cup for 5th time since 1979

Contributed by Elgen Kua

Johor Baru, Sunday, June 21, 2009 – Germany lifted the Junior Hockey World Cup for the fifth time after a comprehensive 3-1 win over Netherlands in the final played at Johor Baru Hockey stadium.

On an evening when the Dutch were expected to lift their game to match that of their opponents, things didn’t work out for them. Instead it was the industrious Germans who was full of running, and emerged victorious to add to their collection of four consecutive titles in 1982, 1985, 1989 and 1993.

For the Dutch, it was yet another sad end to the grand finale, having lost to the Germans in the 1985 final in Vancouver by a 1-4 score line.

The team in Orange drew first blood with a perfect penalty corner conversion from their hit-man, and the tournament's top scorer, Mink Van Der Weerden in the 21th minute. Marco Miltkau equalised for the Germans in the 24th minute and the packed stadium of nearly 8,000 fans knew they were in for an exciting evening by two of the most accomplished hockey nations in the world.

But it was the Germans who rose to the occasion in the second half and 17-year old Florian Fuchs put his team ahead in the 56th minute, capitalising on a rare error by the Dutch goalkeeper Pimin Blaak. Jan Fleckhaus’ scored Germany's third and final goal in the 61st minute, and left the Dutch to ponder over their loss.

Said Uli Forstner, coach of the Germany team: "This is a dream come true. I'm not only happy with the victory but with also the way we played. In the second half, we won all our one-on-one challenges. This was the best performance our team ever had."

Said Germany's captain Martin Haner: "Our team spirit was fantastic, we ran for each other for the whole 70 minutes, and this victory shows that Germany's hockey is the best in the whole tournament."

Australia, after the heartbreak of their semi-final defeat to Germany, came bouncing back to beat New Zealand 4-1 to take third spot.

It was a small consolation to finish third, as Australian coach Jason Duff puts it, after seeing his team missed out on the big one following the 1-2 loss to the Germans in extra time on Friday.

“It still means a lot to us to be able to finish third. But frankly 3rd is not good enough for me. I thought we have the potential to become champion,” said Duff.

Australia were in awesome form right from the start and were 3-0 up even before the half hour mark was over in a performance which left the Kiwis stunned. Timothy Bates put the Aussies ahead in the 14th minute and then in the 24th minute Michael Bates put Australia further ahead before Timothy made it 3-0 in the 27th minute.

New Zealand pulled one back in the 47th minute via a penalty corner conversion from Joseph Bartholomew but the Australians had the final say with their fourth goal in the 69th minute from a fine effort by Adrian Lockley.