Luckless Korea, who nearly made it to the semi-finals, went down 4-5 to Germany [Images] in a 5-8 classification match in the Rabobank Junior World Cup hockey [Images] tournament for men in Rotterdam on Friday.

The Koreans, who were down to nine men after two players received yellow card suspension in last 10 minutes, led 3-1 and 4-4. However, Germany equalised seconds before close and then went on to win the game with Sebastian Draguhn scoring the golden goal four minutes into the extra-time.

Germany, the four-times winners and who had finished third in 2001 World Cup, meet the Netherlands for 5-6 after the Dutch defeated Pakistan 4-1.

Korea face Pakistan to decide the 7-8 spots.

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It was a big climb down for Pakistan who were playing the World Cup after a lapse of eight years and having failed to qualify for the 2001 edition. Incidentally, Pakistan had won the inaugural World Cup in 1979 at Versailles.

Earlier, playing on a water-logged pitch after heavy rains delayed the start, Malaysia eked out a 2-1 win against Egypt in a 9-12 classification game.

The organisers surprisingly decided to go ahead with the game although there was far too much water still left on the pitch and the ball barely rolled a few feet even when hit hard.

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