Holland, Australia, Spain and Germany in the semis

Pakistan to contest for No 7 slot: Out of Champions Trophy reckoning





BEIJING - With the so far invincible Aussies playing out a draw against Great Britain, the four finalists stand decided. The Aussies go through, but in the second place behind the Netherlands from pool 'B' while Spain and Germany complete the quartet from pool 'A'. Pakistan meanwhile had to suffer another defeat - by now a rather familiar outcome - and the mortification to not even make it to the top six. The greenshirts now contest for place out of the elite half dozen in world hockey, and would have to remain content at best for a number seven slot.

Pakistan played marginally better compared to its previous outings here, but the forward-line's continued woeful form against the Netherlands meant that for the third time in five matches, it ended up not scoring enough goals to win. The Dutch came from a goal behind from the first half, which Pakistan dominated, to score four goals that in the eventual 4-2 scoreline put the issue beyond doubt in a 4-2 scoreline.

Thus the expectation that Pakistan would sign off in style was quashed, and so were the hopes that it would at least be able salvage something from here by finishing in the top six to make the cut for the 2009 Champions Trophy. One serious consequence of this defeat was that by ending fourth at the end of the league stage Pakistan would now be fighting for the bottom two places in the middle cluster of four - against New Zealand.