Beijing Olympic Games

Updated: 2008-04-11

(BEIJING, April 11)– Germany will be playing in the men’s finals of the Japan Olympic Qualifier after defeating the hosts 4-0 on Thursday, April 10. The hockey tournament’s round-robin format means that Japan can still reach the finals if they defeat Malaysia on Saturday.

Showing why they the world’s top-ranked team, Germany dominated Thursday’s match. After withstanding a few early scoring chances for the Japanese, the Germans took the lead in the first half with a goal by Philip Zeller and then never looked back—adding three more goals in the second half, including two penalty corner strikes from Christopher Zeller.

Malaysia will be hoping their resilience against a good Swiss team on Thursday will carry over to their match against Japan and give them the remaining spot in the finals. Malaysia needed a late goal by Muhd Razie Abd Rahim to seal the deal against Switzerland, eventually winning the match 4-3.

In the third match of the day, Poland defeated Italy 6-0. Poland will meet Germany on Saturday and Italy will face Switzerland to end the round-robin phase of the tournament.