England Men lost their semi-final with Germany in a game which suffered a one hour and seven minutes delay early in the second half while the water was cleared from the saturated pitch. Germany were leading 1-0 at the stoppage. Philipp Zeller beat James Fair with a flick from the edge of the circle and from an acute angle. Fair did well to save from Thilo Stralkowski after the break but stood no chance when Oskar Deecke fired Germany ahead ten minutes from the end. Oliver Korn added a third with two minutes from time.
England had chances: Ashley Jackson shot wide when well placed and there were four penalty corners, one from Richard Smith and three from Jackson which were all saved by Max Weinhold.
In the other semi-final, The Netherlands beat Belgium 4-2. Although The Netherlands led from Valentin Verga’s fifteenth minute goal, Belgium struck back and went ahead through goals by Florent van Aubel and Simon Gougnard, whose goal was disallowed but given on video appeal. Taeke Takema converted two penalty corners and Robbert Kemperman added a fourth.
Ireland ensured their survival for the next competition by beating Russia 8-2 with John Jermyn scoring twice.
