The stadium was eerily quiet after the noise and colour of the yesterday, when England played the hosts. A much cooler day, the only sounds that could be heard were the shouting of the players on the pitch and of the young boys and girls who were the mascots of the Korean and Argentine teams.
The big match of the day, the final one, was between old rivals Germany and The Netherlands. The Dutch, like England, had not lost a game in the group but, following a hard-fought draw, will have to wait until Tuesday before they can be certain of their place in the semi-final, although their superior goal difference makes it likely they will go through even if they lose to Korea.
Both sides started cautiously, Germany having probably the best of the first forays, though it was two penalty corners apiece before great skill by captain Teun de Nooijer won a third for The Netherlands. With Taeke Taekema off the pitch the ball went to Wouter Jolie whose shot deflected off the goalkeeper and into the net for the lead, one which they kept into the second half.
There was lots of pressure from the Germans at the start of the second half, but the Dutch were able to keep them at bay, helped by some excellent goalkeeping by veteran Guus Vogels. However, he could do nothing when Christoph Menke's hit across from the right was beautifully deflected past him by Oliver Korn to level the scores.
The Dutch had their chances too and a through ball from Rob Reckers gave Rogier Hofman a chance but he put it into the sideboard. With seven minutes to go it was Germany who took the lead when a shot bounced off the upright and found Jan-Marco Montag free in front of goal with the easiest of chances. 2-1 and the Germans must have thought they had won. They had not reckoned with the tenacity of the Dutch who immediately pushed forward. It was captain de Nooijer who found the goal for the very first time, when a cross from the right bounced over the defender's stick where he was waiting to pounce. His fifth World Cup and he has now scored in every one of them. The Germans had a penalty corner right at the death but were unable to convert it, 2-2.
The previous game saw high flying New Zealand take on Argentina, who surprisingly had no points after three matches. At the end of the first half New Zealand were awarded a penalty stroke but the Argentine keeper brought out a terrific save to push the ball onto the post and keep the score at 0-0.
Argentina finally opened the scoring twenty minutes into the second half when a great cross from Pedro Ibarra was met by Fecundo Callioni. Despite constant pressure from New Zealand, some poor finishing and some fine saves left Argentina 1-0 winners at the final whistle, denting any hopes New Zealand had of a semi-final place.
The first match of day eight started very quietly with Korea leading Canada 2-0 at half time after a penalty corner strike by Hyun Woo Nam and a stroke on half time by Jong Hyun Jang. However the second half warmed up and there were goals galore. Korea added three more in three minutes through Nam Yong Lee, Sung Hoon Yang and Hyo Sik You before Canada's Philip Wright scored. Another goal from Jang and Wright made it 6-2 before Jang scored his hat-trick from a penalty corner and You and Nam added their second to end with a 9-2 scoreline, their biggest in World Cup history.
England play their final Pool B match against Spain tomorrow.
