LAHORE, 6 December 2004 — India were derailed from the race for the Champions Trophy gold but not before they gave defending champions Holland a real scare in a 4-5 defeat here at the National Stadium yesterday.
After losing 0-4 to Spain, India needed at least a draw to remain in contention but just fell short against arguably the best team in the competition.
Pakistan, meanwhile, remained on course for their fourth Champions Trophy crown. The hosts, riding on two goals from Sohail Abbas, ended New Zealand’s gold medal hopes with a 3-1 win while Spain handed world champions Germany their second successive defeat in the competition, winning 5-2.
India, turning in a classic display, fought back from a 2-4 deficit at halftime and could have earned a draw had Arjun Hallapa’s cross been met by one of his teammates in the dying moments of the match.
Teun de Nooijer scored two superb goals as Holland once again proved their capability of performing well under pressure.
India drew first blood through Sandeep Michael in the fifth minute but Geert Jan Derikx helped the Dutch level scores a few minutes later. Taeke Taekema converted a short corner in the 16th minute but India equalized through V.S Vinay four minutes later. Nooijer made it 3-2 in the 24 minute while Karel Klaver found the target one minute before halftime to give the Dutch a commanding 4-2 lead. Hallapa converted a penalty stroke in the 46th minute to cut the deficit. But the Dutch made it 5-3 through Nooijer, nine minutes from the final whistle. India gave themselves some hope when Vikram Pillay soon reduced the Dutch lead to 4-5 but were unable to produce any more goals.
In the last game of the day, Sohail broke yet another record as he shepherded Pakistan to a crucial 3-1 victory over New Zealand.
Sohail scored two goals in as many minutes in the second session to become the highest scorer in Champions Trophy history with 31 goals.
Winning the match was not easy as Pakistan trailed 0-1 till the 50th minute of the match as the Kiwis gave them a hard time. But three goals in five minutes turned the tide in their favor.
New Zealand went 1-0 ahead four minutes into the second half when striker Ryan Archibald scored off a short corner deflection. Pakistan fought back in the 51st minute when midfielder Ghazanfar Ali made a solo run into the Kiwi danger zone and found Shakeel Abbasi perfectly placed near the goalmouth. Abbasi’s soft deflection from the right helped the hosts level scores. The hosts got two more goals in as many minutes, both through Sohail, who increased his world record tally of goals to 271. His first goal came after Ghazanfar, later adjudged man-of-the-match, earned a short corner in the 54th minute.
Sohail’s straight push did the job. Another short corner, a couple of minutes later and Sohail’s execution was perfect once again.
Spain were restricted to a 1-1 deadlock in the first session by the second string German team but went into demolition mode in the second half, producing four goals to exhibit their scoring prowess. Albert Sala scored two goals while Juan Escarre, Eduard Arbos and Pau Quemada contributed one each. Florian Keller scored once each in either session for Germany to bring some respectability to the score-line.
