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Six-time champions Germany and Argentina earned hard-fought wins over Spain and Netherlands respectively to enter the semifinals of the FIH Junior Men's Hockey World Cup here on Wednesday. In the first quarterfinal of the day, Germany eked out a narrow 3-1 win over Spain in the shoot-out after both the teams were locked at 2-2 in regulation time, before Argentina beat Netherlands 2-1. Germany took the lead from a penalty stroke through Christopher Kutter in the fifth minute but the lead was shortlived as Ignacio Abajo equalised for Spain from a penalty corner six minutes later. After two barren quarters, it was Spain who shocked the Germans in the 59th minute when Eduard de Ignacio-Simo scored a fine field goal to give his side the lead. There was more drama in store as just at the stroke of the hooter, Germany secured a penalty corner and Masi Pfandt stepped up to take the match into shoot-out. In the shoot-out, Paul Smith, Michel Struthoff and Hannes Muller found the back of the
The Indian men's hockey team stormed into the Olympic Games quarterfinal with a comprehensive 3-1 victory over defending champions Argentina in its penultimate pool match here on Thursday. After goalless first two quarters, India broke the deadlock in the 43rd minute through Varun Kumar before Vivek Sagar Prasad (58th) and Harmanpreet Singh (59th) struck in the closing minutes of the match to seal the contest. Argentina's lone goal came from a penalty corner conversion by Schuth Casella in the 48th minute. By virtue of this win, India have consolidated their position in the second spot of Pool A with three wins and one loss out of four games, behind Australia. Argentina are struggling at the fifth spot in the six-team pool and need to beat New Zealand in their final preliminary match on Friday to stay in the hunt for a quarterfinal berth. The top-four make the last-eight stage from each group. India will play hosts Japan in their final pool match on Friday.