Heiko Nossek, Erik Miers and Julian Real took Germany to 8-5 with 26 seconds remaining.  Gallo, however, made amends and scored a big shot from the right for 9-5 with five seconds to the final break.

Andreas Schlotterbeck scored twice, either side of a Christian Presciutti goal, for 10-7 at 2:21 but Italy controlled until the final minute when Moritz Oeler squeaked one in from the very deep left for a respectable 10-8.

Match 14: 18:50, Group D, ITALY 10 GERMANY 8
Quarters: 3-1, 3-1, 3-3, 1-3
Referees: Sergio Borrell (ESP), Doriel Terpenka (CAN).
Extra Man: ITA: 4/6. GER: 1/3.
Pens: Nil

Teams:
ITALY:
Stefano Tempesti, Amaurys Perez, Niccolo Gitto, Pietro Figlioli (1),
Alex Georgetti (2), Maurizio Felugo (1), Niccolo Figari, Valentino Gallo
(2), Christian Presciutti (2), Deni Fiorentini, Matteo Aicardi (2),
Christian Napolitano, Marco Del Lungo. Head Coach: Alessandro Campagna.
GERMANY:
Roger Kong, Erik Bukowski, Erik Miers (1), Julian Real (2), Till Rohe,
Maurice Juengling, Heiko Nossek (1), Paul Schueler (1), Marko Stamm,
Moritz Oeler (1), Andreas Schlotterbeck (2), Dennis Eidner, Moritz
Schenkel. Head Coach: Nebojsa Novoselac.

FLASH QUOTES:

Valentino Gallo (ITA):
“The Germans’ skills are superior to
Romania´s. We played well tactically and we’ll try to reach perfection
in the final phase. We have to improve on our defence and try to follow
what we decided before the match. We will face the championship step by
step.”
Maurizio Felugo (ITA):
“We started very well but in the fourth quarter we had difficulty, a sort of black out, but we won the match.”
Cristian Presciutti (ITA):
“We are getting better and better, but I don´t think that it will be an easy match against Kazakistan.
In the third period we relaxed for a while. It´s logical when you are ahead, but that can´t happen against a strong team.”
Matteo Aicardi (ITA):
“We
take every match step by step. We never think against which team we
will play because any rival can be tough, although in my opinion Serbia,
Croatia and Spain (as a host country) are the strongest ones.”
Moritz Oeler (ITA):
"We
had a really difficult match situation. The water was really warm and
all of us were exhausted. I'm proud because we've fought a brave fight
throughout the game. Our next match is against Romania, we know that it
will be the last chance for them, even so we need to win because it's
really important for us."
Roger Kong (GER):
"We were fighting a
lot all game long. We were not as concentrated as we should be, but now
we have to go on and fight as we did in the last quarter."