(All times GMT)
606: DEBATE
Your thoughts on the action
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1259 Eng 1-2 Ger (22:00): Majestic from James Fair in the English net. He blocks the first shot, then somehow claws his way back to his feet and gets a glove on the rebound from close range. Fair has just kept his team in the World Cup.
s_boardmantweets: “How does Germany’s record in the group stages compare to England’s”
Germany were undefeated in their group, winning three and drawing two. England won four but lost the other game, a fairly dismal 2-0 defeat by Spain in their last match. Germany have scored more, and conceded fewer, than England.
1253 Eng 1-2 Ger (17:30): Richard Smith scores
Loughborough 22-year-old Smith rifles home straight between Tim Jessulat’s legs from the corner, for his first goal of the tournament. The comeback is on, as a colleague has just pronounced…
1250 Eng 0-2 Ger (15:15): England’s Adam Dixon gets clattered by Germany’s Martin Haner, but is denied a penalty corner by the officials. Haner limps off for treatment on his knee as a result. England are pressing but need at least one goal back before the break.
JP in St Albans texts: “If the boys get to final there will be one hell of a party here on Saturday. Our first team were promoted into the national league last week.”
I would say one half of that party is very much in the balance, at best.
1246 Eng 0-2 Ger (11:00): Oliver Korn scores
A deflection is allowed to run straight past several England defenders and Korn nudges it into the net. Far too easy a goal to concede and England are in real trouble very early on.
1245 Eng 0-1 Ger (09:30): A sublime goal by England’s Alistair Brogdon is ruled out for obstruction on the goalkeeper. He rounded at least three German defenders and lifted it into the net, but Germany’s Tim Jessulat had an English player in his face as the ball went past him.
1241 Eng 0-1 Ger (05:30): Jan-Marco Montag scores
How long, then, will English optimism last Less than six minutes into the game and, from the short corner, Montag fires home. England almost get themselves right back into it from the restart, but it’s already an uphill struggle.
1239 Eng 0-0 Ger (04:00): As the said Sean Kerly was telling me earlier, you only get one shot at a semi-final… possibly in your lifetime, as an England player. So it’s a quiet start. German short corner now though.
1235 Eng 0-0 Ger (00:00): Here we go then. Thirty-five minutes each way, in case you needed telling.
Andy in Tooting texts: “It is in no way a coincidence that I’ve decided to take my lunch hour now. Come on England!”
1233: England legend Sean Kerly’s tactical preview
"England’s strategy will be to attack and press the Germans. Whichever side the Germans go, the English approach will be to hassle them, try to win the ball in midfield and then push forward, rather than necessarily passing it around a lot. That’s where rolling subs will come into play, players will come on with a job to do for the next 10 or 15 minutes.
“The Germans will try to rotate where their players are playing, to throw the English off. So one man may come forward and, if nobody English goes with him, he’ll get the ball. If someone does go with him then that draws an English player away and creates a gap elsewhere, which another German player will fill.”
1231: The players are making their way out and our red button broadcast is now live.
Blog commentfrom Chris: “Is there a desire amongst British people to play hockey I agree with the campaign to raise awareness of hockey before 2012 but, in the grand scheme of 2012, how important is hockey considered”
“Anxious Kate” texts: “I’m so nervous but if the boys play as well as they have done, they can do it. Think work has gone out the window for a couple of hours!”
1225: The game starts in around 10 minutes’ time - Sean Kerly, by the way, is one half of our red button commentary team alongside Matt Chilton. In the meantime,have a read of my blogabout England’s World Cup progress, and the broader future of hockey in Britain. I’d appreciate your views, either as comments on the blog or by text/tweet. Allow yourself to dream for a moment: what would a World Cup trophy, for the first time ever, mean for hockey in the UK
1221: In a second I’ll bring you the tactical side of things from Sean Kerly, legend of English and British hockey, who was part of the team who won Olympic gold in 1988. But then I’m pretty sure you knew that. What you may not know is you can watch this game on the red button (cable/satellite viewers only) or at www.telegraph.co.uk. Whether you’ve got the video in front of you or not, have your say on events by texting 81111 (from the UK) or +44 7786200666 (from elsewhere). Alternatively,send me a tweet- I’m @bbcsport_ollie.
1218: Team news
Both teams have their injury troubles. England have lost brothers Simon and Richard Mantell during the course of the tournament, the latter a particularly tough blow given his penalty corner specialism. Watch out for England’s top scorer, Ashley Jackson, in his place. Germany are missing Christopher Zeller, himself a dab hand at penalty corners, but have done without him for the whole tournament since he stayed at home to work on his law degree. England seem to be missing Richard Mantell more than the Germans miss Zeller. German goalkeeper Max Weinhold was due to undergo a late fitness test having missed his side’s last two games. More as I get it.
1215: England face Germany who, on paper and judging by their trophy cabinet, are the favourites. While England have not made the last four of the World Cup in 24 years, the Germans haven’t missed the semi-finals since 1971. They have won the last two World Cups, in 2002 and 2006, and are the reigning Olympic champions. But England beat them on the way to winning the EuroHockey Nations last year.
1211: Hello, everybody. England’s men have reached the semi-finals of the Hockey World Cup. The last time that happened, the World Wide Web meant nothing to anybody. Computers were the size of apartment blocks. Welcome to 1986, where waiting for Ceefax to refresh was a national sport. The next two hours of live text commentary, by contrast, are allabout 2010.