A sudden death penalty goal by Christopher Zeller helped world No. 2 Germany win 4-3 in the penalty shoutout over the third-ranked Netherlands in the Olympic men's hockey semifinals on Thursday.

It was the first sudden death round in Beijing Olympic hockey tournament, after the duel saw 1-1 tie in regular time.

The win gave Germany their first shot at the gold medal in 16 years.

The two powers held on each other tightly from the start. As neither team succeeded in their two attempts, the first half ended in a 0-0 draw.

In the 19th minute of the second half, a penalty corner, the first in the match, was awarded for the Netherlands but the ball was hit away by German goalkeeper Timo Wess. With four minutes left, Timme Hoyng scored a penalty corner and put the Netherlands 1-0 ahead.

Just one minute later, Germany also got a chance for penalty corner but they did not catch it. With only two minutes to go, Philipp Zeller scored a field goal and leveled the score 1-1 in regular time.

In the extra time, neither team made the golden goal which forced the penalty shootout. However, the penalty shootout ended with 3-3 tie.

In the sudden death round, Christopher Zeller found the net with a shot, but the Dutch penalty corner specialist Taeke Taekema's goal was held off by German goalie Max Weinhold. Finally the marathon semifinals came to an end with Germany's 4-3 win.

Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans said luck was part of a game but the luck was not on their side today. "It is obvious a close game that the first goal was only scored in the 66th minute."

"It's a great game as the two teams are top of the world and we know each other very well. It's the moment to keep it 1-0, but I'm disappointed that we failed," said Roelant.

Dutch goalie Guus Vogels said, "If I can save two goals, it is normally enough. But not today. Today they had one more than I could save. It is sad but I think we still played the best we could."

"It's a narrow game like everybody expected it," said markus Weise, Germany's coach, "I'm pleased with my team as they played well today and they did not play their heads down after the 1-0 down."

Athens bronze medal owner Germany will clash with either Spain or Australia for gold contention, and the Dutch, runner-up at Athens, will face either of them for bronze on Saturday.

(Xinhua News Agency August 21, 2008)