Hockey: Kunz's one man show hands title to Germany

Germany won their eighth Champions' Trophy when they beat Australia 2-1 here yesterday in an exciting final of high-class hockey before a full house.

Germany's captain, Florian Kunz, scored their goals from penalty corners and then in the dying seconds saved a potential Australian equaliser on the goal line, to preserve his side's 100 per cent record. Not surprisingly, Kunz was voted Best Player of the Tournament and was also top goalscorer with 10 goals.

Australia, themselves seven-time winners, thought they had taken the lead in the 20th minute when Matthew Wells drilled in a penalty corner only for it to be disallowed because the ball had not been stopped.

As time expired in the first half, Germany won their third penalty corner and, with 10 players crowded around the D, Kunz's flick beat Lachlan Dreher. Within 10 minutes of the restart, Australia had equalised, Adam Commens picking out Matthew Smith who slotted home. However, less than 60 seconds later Germany won a penalty corner and Kunz dragged the ball low into the right corner.

Australia's last chance to take the game into extra time came two minutes from the end when Smith deflected a cross from the right over the crossbar.

The Netherlands, who have had an indifferent tournament, took the bronze medal when they beat Pakistan 5-2. England finished in fifth place by beating South Korea 3-2 in a penalty stroke shoot out after a 3-3 draw at the end of extra time.

Nick Taylor, the Guildford goalkeeper, was the hero of England's victory over the Sydney Olympic silver medallists. After England had three times come from behind to take the score to 3-3, Taylor denied the Koreans a last-minute winner with a brilliant low diving save. After two goalless periods of extra time, Taylor saved three of the Korean penalty strokes to secure England's victory.

After going a goal down in the seventh minute to a Jung Seon Lee penalty corner England clawed their way back into the game with an equaliser from a Danny Hall penalty stroke three minutes before the interval. Carelessness in the defence allowed the Koreans in for two further goals with England's equalisers coming from Jerome Goudie, following a long through ball from Jon Wyatt, and then Mark Pearn, who crashed in a pass from Hall.

The English coach, Malcolm Wood, said: "It was a Cup final for us. What we did very well was to live always for the next few seconds. We stuck to our gameplan, sorry not to make it too exciting for you, but we won and as a result moved up to No 5 in the world. On our day, I think we can now live with the best."

England: N Taylor; R Todd, J Wyatt, T Bertram, J Evennett; J Goudie, J Wallis, M Johnson, M Kochar; D Hall (capt), M Pearn. Substitutes used: B Waugh, D Mathews, A Humphrey, D Haydon.

South Korea: Yoon Kim; Yong Bae Kim (capt); Seok Kyo Shin, Hyung Bae Han, Jung Woo Lim; Kyung Seok, Woom Kon Yeo, Seong Jung Kang; Seung Tae Song, Keon Wook Kang, Jung Seon Lee. Substitutes used: Mook Ki Yoo, Jong Hyun Hwang.

Umpires: J Rommell (Ger) and M Raashed (Pak).