Defending Champions - Only End With Draw

German captain Muller was happy with his team’s performance against Korea in their hockey World Cup opener in New Delhi. The defending champions came from behind to earn a 2-2 draw after the Asians had led 2-0 at half-time.

After being 2-0 down at half-time, a draw is a welcome result for us. We even had lots of chances to win the match towards the end. But we were not lucky enough. We’ll get better as the tournament grows older,” said the defender.

The 22-year-old was not happy with his team’s return from penalty corners. “We had 5 penalty corners in the first half and did not even score from one. It is difficult to score penalty corners on this pitch. The bounce is uneven so we’ll have to get used to it,” said Muller, who added that the pitch was not an excuse as all the teams had to play on this pitch.

The German skipper did not find the Koreans faster than usual. “No, I do not believe they were faster. They always play at this pace. But I found their attacking more effective than usual,” said Muller.

His coach Jochen Heimpel, however, was not too pleased with the result but nonetheless praised the team’s efforts. “I am not too happy with the result. But credit to the team, they worked hard to come back into the game. It is really hard to score against a team that defend very deep and are fast on the counterattack.”

Only three members of the 2006 World Cup winning team are part of this squad but Heimpel does not think the inexperience will be a factor. “The two Korean goals were not because of our inexperience. The first was a brilliant finish while the second was a goalkeeper error from an experienced keeper. It has nothing to do with inexperience. Yes, I agree the side is not very experienced but I saw a young, inexperienced side today that did not panic and that is a positive,” he concluded.

The Koreans admitted that after playing their heart out before the break, they did not have it in them to keep up the tempo. Captain Jong Ho Seo and coach Seok Kyo Shinboth both agreed that they tired themselves out in the first half allowing the Germans to get the better of them in the second.