The men’s team of Germany and the women’s formation of Netherlands are the new Samsung Hockey Indoor World Cup Champions. The German squad defeated Poland (4-1) in Sunday’s final here in Vienna, Austria, while the Dutch team was stronger than Spain (4-2) in the gold medal match.

Germany came back from a goal down to beat Poland 4-1 in match which was a thrilling end to a wonderful tournament here in Vienna.

Germany had the better of the opening exchanges, with Poland seemingly content to soak up the pressure. Three minutes into the match Germany had a shot that beat keeper Mariusz Chyla, but Tomasz Dutkiewicz cleared the ball off the line and away to safety. Piotr Mikula almost set up the opening goal when delivered a defense splitting pass to Marcin Grotowski, but the Polish player’s shot was well saved by Ulrich Bubolz.

The large number of Poland supporters in the crowd were sent into raptures when Dariusz Malecki scored a 17th minute field goal despite Germany protestations of an infringement. For the last three minutes of the half Poland began to rip through the Germany defense at will, with Mikula and Dariusz Rachwalski at the heart of many of the best attacks.

Germany came out firing at the start of the second half, and scored an equalizer through Benedict Sperling in the 22nd minute. Moritz Fuerste moved Germany in front with a wonderful finish in the 36th minute which forced Poland into action, searching for an equalizer. Nine minutes from time Lucasz WybieralskiI deflected a shot just over the bar, and Grotowski again went close two minutes later, but Sebastian Draguhn put the defending World Champions 3-1 up with four minutes left to play.

Poland replaced their keeper with an outfield player and pushed further up the field, but Oskar Deeke put the ball into the empty net to spark wild German celebrations.

Spain grabbed the bronze medal in the Men’s Samsung Indoor World Cup after a 3-1 victory over Czech Republic.

Netherlands won the Women’s Samsung Indoor World Cup after a 4-2 victory over Spain. Netherlands totally dominated the first half of the match, and opened the scoring with a superb goal. Claire Verhage gave goalkeeper Maria Jesus Rosa no chance of making a save. Belle van Meer made it 2-0 with a shot into the bottom right corner after Spain failed to clear.

Spain’s first clear cut chance of the game came with 10 minutes played, when Pilar Sanchez picked up the ball at the top of the circle, but her effort was straight at Claire Hendriks in the Netherlands goal.

Hendriks made a sensational diving stick save with three minutes left of the first half to keep the two goal advantage. That advantage was nearly extended from a Netherlands penalty corner at the end of the first half, but Rosa charged it down to keep her side in the game.

Spain started the second half much better than they did the first. They won a penalty corner in the 22nd minute, but Hendriks made another good block to frustrate the Spanish players. However, in the 28th minute Alessia Padalino made the score 3-0 with a field goal, and the Netherlands were almost home and dry.

Maria Romagosa pulled a goal back for Spain with a well taken penalty corner to add drama to the game, but with four minutes left to play Verhage flicked a field goal into the net to re-establish the three goal cushion. Spain grabbed a late goal through Nuria Camon, but Netherlands was crowned as the Samsung Women’s Indoor World Champions with a 4-2 victory.

Germany, winner of the World Cup four years ago, took the bronze medal. The German team defeated Ukraine 5-2.

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Samsung Hockey Indoor World Cup

Results Sunday 18 February 2007

Place: Stadthalle Vienna, Austria

Spectators: 3’000.

Men, Final:
Germany – Poland 4:1 (0:1)

Men, bronze medal match:
Spain – Czech Republic 3:1 (1:1)

Men, match for fifth position:
Russia – Austria 6:2 (3:1)

Final ranking

1. Germany
2. Poland
3. Spain
4. Czech Republic
5. Russia
6. Austria
7. Canada
8. Australia
9. Switzerland
10. Italy
11. South Africa
12. Trinidad & Tobago

Individual awards:
Samsung player of the tournament: Piotr Mikula (POL)
Top Scorer: Dimitri Azarov (RUS)
Best Goalkeeper: Filip Neusser (CZE)
Fair Play Trophy: Team Australia

Women, Final:
Netherlands – Spain 4:2 (2:0)

Women, bronze medal match:
Germany – Ukraine 5:2 (0:1)

Women, Match for fifth position:
Belarus – Australia 5:4 (1:1)

Final ranking:

1. Netherlands
2. Spain
3. Germany
4. Ukraine
5. Belarus
6. Australia
7. Austria
8. Scotland
9. Canada
10. Italy
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