Tina reaches milestone as Germany held by China
- A 61st minute strike from Peng Yang gave China a deserved draw against Pool B opponents Germany, denying the European Champions a victory as star defender Tina Bachmann celebrated her 250th international match for Die Danas. Peng's equaliser arrived just a minute after Hannah Krueger had opened the scoring, earning a point for the 2008 Olympic Silver medallists.
The large crowd within the Greenfields Stadium witnessed a goal-less yet thoroughly entertaining first half which saw plenty of action at both ends of the field. Germany shot-stopper Barbara Vogel produced a fine penalty corner save to deny China an opener before Zhang Xiaoxue failed to take advantage of a clear sight of goal by crashing a shot from the right fractionally wide of the target.
The latter stages of the period were controlled by the Germans, who came within inches of opening the scoring when Bachmann rattled the right post with a trademark penalty corner drag-flick.
A minute later, Germany had the ball in the back of the net thanks to a diving backhand effort from Kristina Hillmann, but China made the smart decision to appeal to the video umpire who ruled out the strike due to the ball hitting a German foot in the scoring circle.
Germany continued to look the team most likely to break the deadlock in the second period, but struggled to find a way past China's solid defensive wall.
The opening goal of the game went the way of Die Danas, with Hannah Krueger slamming a penalty corner follow up high into the roof of the China net. That lead lasted just over a minute, with Peng powering into the circle from the right before unleashing a vicious strike past Vogel which arrowed just inside the left post from a tight angle.
Although Germany will be disappointed not to have taken the victory, China's organisation and hard work ensured that they were well worth the point that they earned in this contest.
Official Match Report (PDF)
