Serbia v Germany
Serbia (9) v (4) Germany
Dragan Masic set down a challenge for the rest of the HWC's top strikers in this Pitch 1 fixture, bagging a quickfire hat-trick in just 3 minutes 15 seconds to set up a healthy first half lead for a Serbian side hoping to build on two good wins yesterday. Some clinical German finishing pegged that back briefly but the Balkan side maintained their focus to close out the first half at 5-3 and manitain their three-goal advantage.
Not even booting the ball at the head of one of the match scorers could dent Serbia's cause, and they managed to keep a battling German side at bay throughout. Slowing the game down as the second half wore on, the boys in red played keep ball - and kept their energy for a tough tie against France later today. The Germans scored twice more with a nutmeg and a penalty, but the Serbs were the more canny, picking off goals at will and exploiting some fine positional sense to ease their way home.
Joel Dimmock