MELBOURNE: Germany scored three first-half goals to set up a 3-1 win over Australia on Thursday, handing the host and defending champion its first loss of the Champions Trophy men’s hockey tournament.

Australia could have clinched a spot in the final on Sunday with a win. But now both teams are looking good for a spot in the championship match, sitting first and second respectively with one round-robin match to go on Saturday.

Earlier, South Korea came back from a 1-5 deficit to draw 5-5 with Spain and the Netherlands edged England 3-2.

Reserve Nam Hyun-woo scored three goals in seven minutes from penalty corners to help South Korea secure its draw with Spain.

Robbert Kemperman scored in the fourth minute and again in the 49th to give the Dutch a 3-1 lead before Richard Smith’s goal 10 minutes later pulled England back to within one goal.

Nam scored in the 58th, 61st and 65th minutes, then You Hyo-sik added the equaliser for South Korea with three minutes remaining.

“We weren’t preparing our penalty corners much for the game against Spain,” Nam said of his hat-trick. “For the goals I scored today, I just got down and hit the ball really hard.”

South Korean coach Shin Seok-kyo said his team’s physical conditioning reaped rewards.

Pau Quemada scored thrice for Spain, including a 53rd-minute goal that gave his side its four-goal advantage.

Spain’s Xavi Ribas said his team thought it had sewn up the match. “We started really fast,” Ribas said. “And went really hard early on. But then we relaxed in the second half.

“When it was 4-1 at half-time, we thought it was good enough. But it wasn’t to be. We’re very disappointed. We were playing well before the tournament and two draws simply isn’t good enough.”

England’s loss — its third along with a draw — and Spain’s draw meant the two teams will play for fifth place on Sunday, regardless of the results of their final round-robin matches on Saturday.

The results: South Korea 5 (Seo, Nam 3, You) drew with Spain 5 (Quemada 3, D. Alegre, Tubau).

Netherlands 3 (Kemperman 2, Reckers) bt England 2 (Mantell, Smith).

Germany 3 (Montag, Witthaus, Wesley) bt Australia 1 (Doerner). — Agencies