Date December 5 , 2011
Spain defeated Pakistan 4-2 in the Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament in Auckland.
Penalty corner ace Pau Quemada was the hero of the hour as he helped Spain record a 4-2 victory over Pakistan. With the score locked at 2-2, Quemada found the target twice in eight minutes to give Spain their first win of the Owen G Glenn FIH Champions Trophy following their defeat against Australia on Saturday.
The win moves Spain up to second in the Pool A table, leap-frogging Great Britain – who they face on Tuesday – thanks to a superior goal difference.
It took Spain just three minutes to take the lead in the contest when Santi Freixa picked up a penalty corner rebound and ruthlessly slammed the ball into the Pakistan goal. However, Pakistan were level just before the ten minute mark when dazzling attacker Shakeel Abbasi punished some weak Spanish defending by squeezing the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Francisco Cortes.
Both sides were reduced to ten players in the 24th minute when umpire Murray Grime handed out yellow cards to Spain’s Roc Oliva and Waseem Ahmed of Pakistan for an ugly looking clash. Just a minute after the incident, Spain re-established their advantage thanks to Jorge Dabanch who made space for himself with a superb first touch before cracking home on his reverse stick. Shakeel Abbasi went close to tying the scores moments before half time, but his diving deflection travelled just wide of the target.
World record goal scorer Sohail Abbas produced a moment of magic from a penalty corner six minutes into the second half to restore parity. The 36-year-old stepped up to the mark and sent a flick rocketing into the roof of the net, giving Spanish keeper Cortes absolutely no chance of saving. However, Abbas was to be outdone on the day by Spain’s very own penalty corner specialist, Pau Quemada. The Belgium based Spaniard put his team back in front in the 57th minute with an accurate flick, before adding his second and Spain’s fourth with another set piece effort five minutes from the end of the game.
Pakistan rallied towards the end of the game but were thwarted by a Spanish side that was determined to claim all three points.
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