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NEW DELHI - Spain defeated South Korea 2-0 in the playoff for fifth at the field hockey World Cup on Friday.
The teams played for the bronze medal at the last World Cup in 2006, and again Spain prevailed. Spain's prize this time was to earn a berth in the Champions Trophy in August at Moenchengladbach.
Germany, as the Champions Trophy host, and New Zealand, as winner of the Champions Challenge, were assured of participation. Four other top teams could qualify from the World Cup, and three spots were taken by semifinalists Australia, the Netherlands and England.
Two-time defending champion Germany and Australia meet in a third straight World Cup final on Saturday.
Canada defeated four-time champion Pakistan 3-2 in overtime Thursday, to finish 11th.
Captain Pol Amat scored both goals for Spain. Amat converted a pass from Alex Fabrigas after only 18 seconds, and again shot on target two minutes before halftime.
South Korea managed only three shots on goal, and missed all three penalty corners.
Argentina defeated India in the playoff for seventh, and New Zealand pipped South Africa 5-4 on penalties in the playoff for the ninth.
After Tomas Argento hit in the only goal of the first half for Argentina, the teams combined for five goals from the 42nd to 49th minutes.
Sandeep Singh equalized for India before Lucas Vila scored twice and Facundo Callioni added another to make it 4-1.
Vijendra Singh pulled a goal back for India, whose eighth-place finish equalled the worst showing by a host, matching Argentina in 1978 and Malaysia in 2002.
Not even extra time could separate New Zealand and South Africa.
Andrew Hayward's third penalty corner goal of the game with no time left at the end of regulation made it 4-4 and sent the game into extra time, where the teams could not produce another goal.
Then they went to penalty strokes, and both teams missed one early. They finished the penalty strokes at 4-4 and moved onto golden goals. Lloyd Madsen was saved by New Zealand goalkeeper Kyle Pontifex, then Dean Couzins caught South Africa goalie Erasmus Pieterse diving the other way to seal the marathon win.
