A solid performance by Korea crushes late surge by Germany

Result 7/8th Classification: Korea v Germany 4-2 (2-0)

Korea won the 7/8 classification match by a 4-2 scoreline and will be delighted that they have finished ahead of their eighth ranking. For the German team this is certainly not how they expected their World Cup 2014 story to unfold. Die Danas finished eighth, after coming into the tournament as the sixth-ranked team, and with high hopes of a top six finish. 

The match was a tough one for both teams, but it was the German side who started the stronger. Korea weathered an early period of domination by Die Danas and then struck with three well-taken goals. Germany mounted a spirited fightback, inspired by Julia Muller and Maike Stockel. With just a one goal cushion, Korea defended stoically against the German barrage of attacks, including  a series of penalty corners in the last 10 minutes of the game, and then sealed the victory with a penalty corner goal with just four minutes left on the clock.

Katharina Otte came close to opening the scoring in the third minute of the game, Lee Sinhye bringing a top save out of the bag to deny the German player. This was followed minutes later by a fine shot from Eileen Hoffman, which just whistled wide of the Korea post.

Against the run of play, Korea took the lead through Kim Okiu (13'). Kim Jong Eun, the Korea captain, made a strong run into the circle and the rebound from her shot was picked up and slammed home by Kim Okiu. This lead was doubled by Han Hye Lyoung (30') who again made the most of a rebound off the pads of Kim Platten in the German goal. 

After the break captain Kim Jongeun (48') was rewarded for some outstandingly hard work when she chipped the ball over Platten, and the Koreans could have been forgiven for thinking they had sealed the match. This was not the case as Germany increased the intensity of their play and came back into the game with goals from Tina Bachmann (50') – getting a deft touch on a penalty corner strike from Maike Stiockel, – and then a goal from Julia Muller (53'). Muller's goal was also a penalty corner, and it was clear from the reaction of the German players that they had the belief to chase.

A series of penalty corners kept the Korea defence under pressure, but it was actually Korea, through Cheon Seul Ki (66') who scored on the counter-attack.

Speaking after the game, Germany's Julia Muller said: "Korea are strong and fit and hit us with the counter-attacks. I do not understand why we have not clicked here, maybe in a week or so we will look back and understand what went wrong."

Jamilon Mulders, the German coach said: "The ladies showed positive character and created a lot of chances. They need to be a bit more relaxed on the ball and then they might score some goals. It is the last match for some of the players, particularly Tina (Bachmann) and Maike (Stockel), so for that reason we are sad, but we also are looking forwards to rebuilding the team."