Early Wess goal enough to claim Champion's Trophy

Germany claimed the 2007 Samsung Champions Trophy, defeating Australia in the final in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. An early goal of captain Timo Wess was enough for the Germans to take the title for the ninth time. Defending champions, the Netherlands, took the bronze medal, while Korea finished fourth.

In the final Germany met Australia, the two teams having locked horns just a day before. Having blocked out Saturday’s humiliating 0-5 defeat, Germany scored in just the 5th minute when Timo Wess leisurely flicked a laid-off penalty corner ball into the top left corner.

Germany went on to dominate the initial phase of the match but could not score again. They had a few more opportunities in the first half, but grew increasingly wary of risking their lead, especially after the break. Australia kept attacking, pressuring for an elusive equalizer and managed to create scores of opportunities, but could not capitalize on them.

The Netherlands took the bronze medal by winning against Korea. The Dutch came out aggressively, opening the scoring in the 15th minute from a penalty corner by the ever reliable Taeke Taekema. It was his seventh of the event, joining Sohail Abbas at the top of the all-time Champions Trophy goalscorer list with 40 goals. Rob Reckers gave the Netherlands a deserved two goal half-time lead.

After the break, a Woon Kon Yeo goal reduced the deficit, evoking memories of the pool match between the teams, where Korea scored five goals in the second half to win 2-6. The Dutch became more cautious and did not give Korea as much space, until Jeroen Hertzberger re-established their two goal lead. Korea got close again with a late Byung Hoon Kim penalty corner, but they ran out of time before they could fashion an equalizer.

By beating Great Britain in the play-off for 5th/6th place, Spain also won the added benefit of an invitation to next year’s edition of the Champions Trophy: they join Germany, Australia, Korea, the Netherlands, and Argentina for the tournament in Rotterdam in June 2008.

Taeke Taekema and Korean Jong Hyun Jang finished the tournament as topscorers, Dutch Guus Vogels as the Best Goalkeeper, Eddie Ockenden from Australia as the Best Young Player, German captain Timo Wess as the Best Player of the Final, and Matthias Witthaus, also from Germany, as the Best Player of the tournament. The Fair Play Trophy went to Great Britain.

Final ranking:
1. Germany
2. Australia
3. Netherlands
4. Korea
5. Spain
6. Great Britain
7. Pakistan
8. Malaysia