KUALA LUMPUR, 15 January 2004 — Germany fought back from a three-goal deficit to hold Spain to a 4-4 draw in the Azlan Shah Cup at the National Hockey Stadium yesterday.

Germany now need just one point from their final preliminary round match against Australia tomorrow to reach Sunday’s final against defending champions Pakistan who advance despite being held to a 1-1 draw by Malaysia.

The match failed to live up to its billing as a repeat of the European Championship final last September in Barcelona, where Germany triumphed on penalty strokes in extra time after a 1-1 draw.

Spain were the early aggressors and took the lead after just four minutes when Alex Fabregas worked his way on the right and sent a cross into the semi circle, giving Santiago Freixa an open goal to aim for.

The Germans rallied and managed to find the equalizer in the 10th minute when a break through in the middle saw Benjamin Kopp slotting home from the top of the semi circle. But it was clear the Germans were not playing their usual game and many of their passes went astray or were intercepted by the Spanish. In the 27th minute Spain’s Pol Amat scored an easy goal as he dribbled his way into the semi circle from the right and struck in a skillful forward hit which took two German defenders and goalkeeper Arnold Clemens by surprise.

Soon Amat was again making inroads into German territory, ably supported by Santiago, who in the 30th minute caught a long cross from David Algre and slotted past the oncoming Arnold Clemens for the third goal. By the 34th minute the Spanish looked to have the match sealed with Santiago again the scorer with a field goal, his fifth goal of the tournament.

Germany relied on penalty corners to force the draw with skipper Floran Kunz scoring off two such attempts in the 51st and 66th minutes while Bjorn Michel netted the equalizer two minutes from the end of regulation period.

Pakistan gave a less than vintage performance against hosts Malaysia missing a chance to seal victory from a penalty corner 47 seconds before the end of play when Malaysian keeper Roslan Jamaluddin pulled off a spectacular save to deny Sohail Abbas. Malaysia had taken the lead in the 42nd minute through skipper S. Kuhan, who converted Malaysia’s only penalty corner in the match.

But Sohail ensured that Pakistan kept their unbeaten run in the tournament intact by scoring in the 48th minute, also off a penalty corner.