Michel's 'trick' lays Malaysia low

Four goals, including a hat-trick, by Bjorn Michel gave Germany a 5-1 victory over Malaysia in the Sultan Azlan Shah hockey tournament at the National hockey stadium, in Bukit Jalil, Kuala Lumpur, on Monday.

The victory took the Germans, unbeaten in three matches, to the top of the seven-team league with nine points. For Malaysia, it was their second defeat in four matches, two of which have been draws.

In another match, Pakistan beat England 4-3 to stay in the race for honours.

Germany were streets ahead of their opponents and could have won by an even bigger margin had they not relaxed after going three goals up through Michel, who registered the first hat-trick of the competition after scoring in the 16th, 20th, 43rd and 65th minutes, his fourth goal coming after Oliver Domke found the mark in the 60th minute.

Chairil Anwar Abd Aziz got Malaysia a consolation goal two minutes from time.

Michel opened the flood gates in the 16th minute from a penalty-corner. His hit brooked no reply from Malaysia 'keeper Roslan Jamaluddin.

Four minutes later, he made it 2-0 after being put through by Domke.

In the second session, the Malaysians did much of the running, trying to split the German defence but without success.

Michel completed his hat-trick eight minutes on resumption before Domke could complete the rout.

Defending champions Pakistan scored their second close victory in as many days, beating England 4-3 in the second match of the day.

The victory was Pakistan's second following a victory over India on Sunday. They have seven points from four matches. They lost to Australia and drew with South Korea.

England suffered their second reverse. They have two points from draws -- against Malaysia and Australia. They had lost to South Korea in their opening match.

For the second successive day, the hero of Pakistan's victory was none other than Sohail Abbas, who scored two goals, the second of which sealed victory.

Abbas scored in the fifth and 60th minutes, his second goal coming after Kashif Jawwad (31st minute) and Muhammad Sawar (43rd minute) had put Pakistan high in the saddle.

Pakistan were off to a rousing start, when Abbas finished off well a pass from Atif Bashir from a penalty-corner variation, and were always in command though England were always threatening in counter attacks.

The English should have restored parity soon after but they narrowly missed scoring from two penalty-corners. However, Danny Hall put them on level terms in the 25th minute, sounding the board with a stiff hit from a penalty-corner.

But five minutes later Pakistan went ahead again after Kashif Jawwad scored from a quick counter offensive.

Muhammad Sawar made it 3-1 for Pakistan in the 43rd minute, pushing home a pass from Muhammad Qasim before Sohail Abbas could score from a penalty-corner in the 60th minute to make it 4-1.

Pakistan almost paid the price for relaxing their stranglehold as England pulled two goals back through Hall, in the 63rd minute, and Tom Bertram two minutes from the final whistle.

Complete Coverage: Sultan Azlan Shah Hockey Tournament, 2001