Eight-times title winner Germany was out of the medal bracket only thrice in 22 attempts

By : Syed Akber Ali Wahidi

 Ranked second behind Olympic Champion Australia in world ranking, Germany will not be among favorites to win the CT 2004 as, like 2003 edition, will be represented by a development side.

Only two players, both defenders, Eike Duckwitz and Philipp Crone of Athens Olympics’s 16 are being retained and none of the five strikers Christopher Zeller (Münchner SC), Matthias Witthaus (Crefelder HTC), Christoph Bechmann (Der Club an der Alster Hamburg), Björn Michel (Münchner SC), Sascha Reinelt (HTC Stuttgarter Kickers), who played at Greece, will appear at Lahore.

Midfielder Justus Scharowsky was in the reckoning but he had to call off for study reasons, while German coach Bernhard Peters, on 25 November, named Hamburg’s Moritz Falcke, in place of Christian Kurtz  who had to call off the journey to Pakistan due to an operation of his wife.

The son of the famous FIH coach and acadamecian Horst Wein, Christian Wein, who represented Germany in 2-1win over Australia in the 10th World Cup final on 9 Match 2002 at KL, staged comeback.

Ten players of 2003 development team Ulrich Bubolz, Eike Duckwitz, Nicolas Emmerling, Maik Günther, Klaus Ulrich, Till Kriwet, Niklas Meinert, Christoph Menke, Jan Marco Montag and Benedikt Sperling found themselves back in the national team.

Peters, hoping for at least fourth position, expects some sparks from Wein and Florian Keller up front who is also enlisted as comebacker. Florian Keller, gold medallist at Rotterdam CT three years ago, is of course from the famous Keller hockey family. His grandfather, Erwin Keller, represented German team that won a silver  in Berlin Olympics 1936. Father Carsten won a gold at Munich Olympiad 1972.

His elder brother, Andreas, managed three Olympic medals : silvers in 1984 and 1988 and a gold at Barcelona in 1992. But hockey is not just the domain of the males in the Keller family. Carsten’s daughter Natasha Keller has also had her part to play in maintaining the family tradition when she was voted FIH Women Player of the Year 1999.

Germany’s full-strength side have won the last three Olympic preparation tournaments in Hamburg, Amstelveeen and Dusseldorf but lost the semi-final at Athens Olympics 2004.

World champions Germany enjoys the unique distinction of winning the CT for the record 8 times, the highest by any of the 14 participants that have figured in the competition history so far.

Germany was out of the medal bracket only thrice in their 22 appearances. They were fifth in 1982, sixth in 1998 and 2003. They became second team after Australia to complete hat-trick of wins.  The Germans, as West Germany, did it in 1986, 1987 and 1988. The 1988 win was last before the Unification Treaty between the two Germanys. Germany’s fourth triumph in 1991was first as United Germany. On 3 October 1990, West and East Germany merged to again form one United Germany.

The Lahorities will miss the skills of famous German players Florian Kunz, Christoph Bechmann, Christoph Eimer, Michael Green as they announced their retirement.

Leverkusen-born Florian Kunz, who used to play for Gladbacher HTC, played a stellar role in Germany's first-ever gold medal victory in the World Cup 2002 at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium KL. He also wore captain’s armband when Germany last won the CT in 2001. That was memorable year for Kunz who was named FIH Player of the Year in that year. Two goals by Kunz, helped Germany to a 2-1 defeat of Australia in the final of the ^23rd  Champions Trophy 2001 at Rotterdam. Kunz took over the captaincy from Christopher Mayerhofer under whom Germany finished second at Amstelveen CT 2000.

Germany missed the CT 1999 at Brisbane as in 1998 CT at Lahore, Christopher Reitz-led Germany finished last, losing the 5^th place match to Spain with Victor Pujol getting the golden goal in 3-2 win.

The Rotterdam triumph enabled Germany to become the first team to win the trophy record eight times after a flawless campaign, winning all six of their matches in the annual event featuring the top six nations which had been transferred from Lahore to Rotterdam after the September 11 attacks in the United States.

Standing 6 feet 6 inches in his socks, Kunz indeed was a towering figure. He topped the goal scoring chart with ten goals ; becoming one of the four (others being Germany’s Wolfgang Strodter, Netherlands’s Paul Litjens, Argentina’s Jorge Lombi) players to reach double-figure goals in single edition of CT. Kunz was also awarded the trophy for the tournament's best player. Kunz took to hockey at the age of five and made his international debut in 1994 when he participated in the Lahore CT where Germany finished runners-up.

Kunz managed two gold medals in CT. His first one was at Berlin in 1995. He was not in the Christian Blunk-led side that won the gold in 1997 Adelaide CT. The 24^th CT at home in 2002 was disappointing for him as his team lost to Netherlands on tie-breaker after 0-0 draw in the final while he missed the 2003 Amstelveen CT as German Hockey Association (DHB), under President Dr. Christoph Wüterich, concentrated on earning direct berth to Athens Olympics.

FIH  had expressed its disapproval, both of the DHB's decision to send their development team and of the lateness of the announcement, prior to the Rabobank CT. Acting on advice from its technical staff, Germany has opted against fielding its strongest team because of the  Champions Trophy's proximity to September's European Nations Cup. As winner of the European Nations Cup, German wanted to gain automatic qualification to the Athens Olympic Games, avoiding the Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Spanish city Madrid.

FIH was unable to schedule the tournament on alternative dates.  The 2003 Champions Trophy was originally to be held in July in Milton Keynes but English Hockey had to withdraw its offer to host in July 2002 due to financial difficulties at that time.  FIH offered the event for re-tender, specifying the hosting dates between June 21st and July 23rd 2003.However, the only National Association to respond to the re-tender, the KNHB, couldn't meet this condition.

German’s display was a disappointment for the spectators, the organisers, television viewers, broadcasters and sponsors as they lost all their six matches; also  suffering their heaviest defeat in CT’s history by losing 0-6 to host Netherlands. However, DHB achieved the target when their team won the Euro hockey 2003.

Lahore 2004 CT will be third for Bernhard Peters. Germany have won two major tournaments since their former Junior World Cup 1993 winning coach, Bernhard, took over the team in January 2001. Success in the 2001 CT and the 2002 W C have been the highlights.

Germany recorded eight golds, five silvers and six bronzes in their 22 appearances in CT. They took no interest in 1978 and 1984 editions while they failed to qualify for 1999 Brisbane event. Their positions in those 22 CTs were : 1980 (2nd), 1981 (3rd), 1982 (5th), 1983 (3rd), 1985 (3rd), 1986 (1st), 1987 (1st), 1988 (1st), 1989 (3rd), 1990 (3rd), 1991 (1st), 1992 (1st), 1993 (2nd), 1994 (2nd), 1995 (1st), 1996 (3rd), 1997 (1st), 1998 (6th), 2000(2nd), 2001 (1st), 2002(2nd), 2003(6th). Their overall Record is :  Matches : 124, Won : 67, Drawn: 26, Lost : 31, Goals For : 289, Goals Against : 232.

Germany managed 11 hat-tricks in CT with PC experts Michael Peter and Carsten Fischer leading the chart with three apiece. Another PC striker Wolfgang Strodter and Christoph Bechmann fired two while Andreas Becker did it once. Carsten Fischer is also the highest gold medal winner in Champions Trophy with six golds while he is also all-time leading scorer for Germany with 30 Goals. Germany achieved their best win by beating Spain 6-1 (1981) and India 5-0  (1996).

German squad for Champions Trophy 2004 :

Officials :

Dieter Schuermann (manager), Bernhard Peters  (coach), Andreas Hoeppner, Werner Wiedersich (assistant coaches)

Players :

Goal Keepers : Ulrich Bubolz ( Stade Française) , Max Weinhold

(Münchner SC)
Others : Philipp Crone ( HC Roma ), Eike Duckwitz ( UHC Hamburg), Nicolas Emmerling (Club di Campo), Moritz Falcke  (UHC Hamburg), Maik Günther ( Münchner SC ), Oliver Hentschel (Club an der Alster), Ulrich Klaus (Gladbacher HTC), Till Kriwet (Crefelder HTC), Florian Keller (Zehlendorfer Wespen), Niklas Meinert (Dürkheimer HC ), Christoph Menke (Gladbacher HTC), Jan Marco Montag (Gladbacher HTC), Carlos Nevado-Gonzales (UHC Hamburg), Michael Purps (Dürkheimer HC), Benedikt Sperling (Münchner SC), Christian Wein (HC Laren)

MEDALS IN MAJOR EVENTS

Tournaments     Gold         Silver          Bronze           Total

Olympics                      2                      3                      3                      8

World Cups                 1                      1                      4                      6

Champions Trophy       8                      5                      6                      19

Total                           11                    9                      13                    33

13^TH AZLAN SHAH CUP  AT KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA

08.01    Germany  3   India        1

Bjorn Michel 2,Florian Kunz        

09.01    Germany  4   Malaysia     2    

Bjorn Michel 2, Bjorn Emmerling, Tobias Hentschel

11.01    Germany  2   Korea        1

Bjorn Michel , Christoph Bechmann  

12.01    Germany  3   Pakistan     4

Bjorn Michel, Benjamin Kopp, Mattias Witthaus

14.01    Germany  4   Spain        4     

Florian Kunz 2,Benjamin Kopp, Bjorn Michel

16.01    Germany  2   Australia    4   

Mattias Witthaus 2

18.01    Germany  3   Korea        3 (3/4)(Kor 3-2 on ps)

Mattias Witthaus, Christoph Bechmann, Tibor weissenborn

 ( Germany finished fourth)

TEST MATCHES AT  POTCHEFSTROOM, SOUTH AFRICA

04.02    Germany  3   South Africa 2  

Max Landshut, Christoph Eimer, Sascha Reinelt
06.02    Germany  5   Canada       2

Florian Kunz 2, Tibor Weissenborn, Bjorn Michel, Sebastian Biederlack

07.02    Germany  2   South Africa 1   

Florian Kunz, Björn Emmerling

TEST MATCHES AT ROME,ITALY

14.02    Germany  3   Netherlands  2   

15.02    Germany  4   Netherlands  4   

TEST MATCH AT COLOGNE, GERMANY

18.05    Germany  9   Egypt        1                  

Björn Michel 3, Christopher Zeller 3, Sebastian Biederlack
Max Landshut, Eike Duckwitz

TEST MATCHES VS AUSTRALIA AT LEIPZIG, GERMANY

28.05    Germany  2   Australia    3     

Björn Michel 2
30.05    Germany  2   Australia    1    

Matthias Witthaus, Björn Emmerling

31.05    Germany  3   Australia    4   

Sascha Reinelt, Timo Wess, Justus Scharowsky

TEST MATCHES VS PAKISTAN AT BERLIN, GERMANY

13.06    Germany  3   Pakistan     1      

Sascha Reinelt, Christopher Zeller, Matthias Witthaus

14.06    Germany  2   Pakistan     1      

Matthias Witthaus, Justus Scharowsky

TEST MATCH AT LUNEBURG,GERMANY

16.06    Germany  5   Argentina    2    

Florian Kunz 2,Sascha Reinelt, Christoph Bechmann, Matthias Witthaus

HAMBURG MASTERS AT HAMBURG, GERMANY

18.06    Germany  2   Argentina    3

Sascha Reinelt, Christoph Bechmann

19.06    Germany  3   Korea        2

Christoph Bechmann, Florian Kunz,Christian Wein

20.06    Germany  3   Pakistan     2 

Christoph Bechmann, Florian Kunz, Bjorn Emmerling

      (Germany won the competition)           

RABOBANK TROPHY AT AMSTELVEEN,NETHERLANDS

26.06    Germany  6   Pakistan     0           

Björn Michel 2, Florian Kunz 2, Christoph Bechmann, Matthias Witthaus

29.06    Germany  1   Netherlands  3        

Christopher Zeller

01.07    Germany  4   India        0

Björn Michel 3, Christoph Bechmann

04.07    Germany  5   Netherlands  4       

Christoph Bechmann, Björn Emmerling, Björn Michel, Christopher Zeller, Matthias Witthaus

(Germany won the competition)           

DSD 4-NATION AT DUSSELDORF, GERMANY

16.07    Germany  6   France       1      

FlorianKunz 2, Matthias Witthaus 2
Christopher Zeller, Björn Michel

17.07    Germany  3   Britain      1 

Björn Michel, Christian Wein, Florian Kunz

18.07    Germany  3   India        3      

Christopher Zeller 2, Christoph Bechmann

          (Germany won the competition)

TEST AT ESSEN, GERMANY

29.07    Germany  3   Netherlands  1

Christopher Zeller, Matthias Witthaus,
Christoph Bechmann

TEST AT AMSTELVEEN,NETHERLANDS

31.07    Germany  1   Netherlands  2

Björn Michel

28^th OLYMPIC GAMES HOCKEY TOURNAMENT AT ATHENS, GREECE

15.08    Germany  2   Pakistan     1

Bjorn Michel, Bjorn Emmerling     

17.08    Germany  1   Spain        1       

Christoph Bechmann

19.08    Germany  6   Egypt        1

Christoph Bechmann 2,Christopher Zeller 2, Mattias Witthaus, Florian Kunz

21.08    Germany  4   Britain      1

Christopher Zeller 2, Mattias Witthaus, Justus Scharowsky

23.08    Germany  2   Korea        2

Christopher Zeller,Bjorn Emmerling

25.08    Germany  2   Netherlands  3 (SF)

Christoph Bechmann, Mattias Witthaus

27.08    Germany  4   Spain        3 (3/4)

Sascha Reinelt, Björn Emmerling, Björn Michel, Eike Duckwitz

           (Germany finished third)           

Germany’s overall  record in 2004

 Matches : 38, Won : 24 , Drawn : 6 , Lost : 8 , Goals For : 125 , Goals Against : 77