Spain 3 defeated Germany 2
Goals: ESP – Santi Freixa PC 4m FG 47m, Ramon Alegre PC 57m; GER – Niklas Meinert PC 51m, Matthias Witthaus FG 59m

Spain kept themselves in the hunt for a final spot with a narrow 3-2 victory over Germany in a bright, attacking match.

Spain looked in control of the match early in the second half after Santi Freixa scored his second goal but Germany persisted and nearly stole a daw with a penalty corner opportunity after the siren.

The match was played at a high tempo with free-wheeling play between each team’s attacking circle. Freixa got his team off to a great start with a goal in the fourth minute but Spain was notable to extend that lead until after half time.

Despite being a goal down, Germany realised the importance of their plight and continued to press the Spanish defence until Niklas Meinert found a way through from a penalty corner in the 51st  minute.

Spain again opened a two-goal buffer with 13 minutes remaining before Germany struck again to set up an exciting finish to the match.

Netherlands 2 defeated India 1
Goals: NED - Roderick Weusthof, Taeke Taekema; IND - Sandeep Singh

The Netherlands qualified for the Champions Trophy final after a lucky 2-1 escape against India.

Despite the heroics of goal keeper Bharat Chetri, India conceded a goal in the final minute of play – a goal that sent the Dutch into Sunday’s final and denied Spain a chance to defend their title.

Needing a win to qualify for the tournament decider, the Netherlands were met by an inspired Indian outfit and couldn’t break down the home team's defence in the first 35 minutes.

Bharat Chetri was outstanding and produced a catalogue of brilliant saves to keep his opponents scoreless.

There was no doubt about the commitment of the Indian team in the opening half, as they continually repelled the Dutch threat and then set about counter attacking with verve not shown in their previous two encounters.

The pressure finally told in the 15 minutes after half time when Roderick Weusthof converted the Netherlands’ fourth penalty corner. After the break, the Netherlands had gone close on a number of occasions only to be folied by the last line if the INdia defence.

India had the better of play after losing the lead, but they couldn't put the finishing touch as the equaliser beckoned.

The leveller finally came from Sandeep Singh’s penalty corner missile in the 66th minute, but that was the sput for the Netherlands to conjure their escape act as time expired.

Chetri produced the play of the match with a minute remaining when he dived full length to his right to get a stick to Taeke Taekema’s’ penalty corner flick, but couldn’t stop a repeat effort immediately after as the Netherlands scored to progress to the final.

Australia 3 drew Pakistan 3
Goals: AUS – Luke Doerner PC 31m, Matt Naylor FG 55m, Matthew Wells PC 57m; PAK – Muhammad Imran PC 34m, Rehan Butt PC 40m, Shakeel Abbasi FG 60m

The day’s last match was a rather dull affair compared to the excitement of the first two encounters, not least because the result was not to have any influence over Sunday’s matches as Australia had booked its place in the final early and Pakistan already was a certain participant in the relegation match.

For thirty minutes, there were few chances and no goals but in its last five minutes, the first half saw each team convert one of two penalty corners they had, Australia through Luke Doerner, and Pakistan through Muhammad Imran, for a halftime 1-1 draw.

The second half soon saw Pakistan one up when they scored from a penalty corner again as Rehan Butt capitalized on the rebound, but the match lapsed back into a lack of scoring opportunities and absence of goals until a five minute goal flurry late in the second half sealed the final result.

With the pool matches complete, Australia now is to face the Netherlands in the dispute for the trophy, while Pakistan are left to take on India to avoid relegation from hockey’s prime annual event.

On a side note, the otherwise a little uneventful encounter had Australia lose Nathan Eglington to a hand injury as he was hit by an Indian stick and had to leave the pitch bleeding profusely. It remains to be seen whether he will be able to take part in Sunday’s final.