KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 6, 2007 - European champions the Netherlands surrendered any remaining chance of retaining the Champions Trophy after drawing 3-3 with world number ones Australia here Thursday.

The Netherlands only managed nine points after six matches and now have no chance of getting into the final after a thrilling draw.

"That's it," Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans conceded of his team's chances.

"But actually we were not thinking of making the final even before this match," he confessed.

"I'm quite pleased with the overall performance but it is always a regret that we are not able to get into the final but that is the way it is -- sometimes you win, and sometimes you lose."

Both teams started the match at a ferocious pace but the Dutch took the lead in the 10th minute after an excellent interchange in midfield between Jeroen Hertzberger and Rob Reckers left the 21-year-old Hertzberger free to score his first senior international goal.

The Aussies got back into the game in the 26th minute when Russell Ford scored from close range.

But the Netherlands again went ahead when veteran Taeke Taekema converted a penalty corner.

The Aussies equalised when Eddie Ockenden scored from close range in the 33rd minute to make it 2-2 at half-time, but went behind again shortly after the break. A through-ball found Matthijs Brouwer alone on the left of the circle and he unleashed a ferocious shot past keeper Stephen Lambert.

Australia drew level for a third time in the 63rd minute, when Luke Doerner thumped home a penalty corner to ensure both teams grabbed a point each.

The Australians were pleased with the result, saying there was still hope for a place in the final.

"The result was fair, both teams had wanted to win but coming out with a draw, so it's not sure what it means at the moment," assistant coach Colin Batch said.

"Now we have to wait and see what happens to other results. It all depends on the last match now."

In other matches, Korea brightened their hopes for Sunday's finals when they drew against former kingpins Pakistan 3-3.

South Korea's Jang Jong-hyun continued his free scoring ways and led the scoring table with his eighth goal here when he slammed in Korea's third in the 49th minute. Other goals came from Seo Jong-ho (7) and You Hyo-sik (44th).

Pakistan replied through Shakeel Abbasi (27).

Korean coach Cho Myung-jun, speaking through a translator, said he was happy with the draw and confident they would book their place in the final with a good result against Britain on Friday.

"The place in the final is still in sight and we look towards our match against Britain," he said.

But he said it was "disappointing not to beat Pakistan."

"Before the match, we thought we should be able to beat Pakistan but they are a good team and never easy to beat and also Pakistan fought very hard."

Meanwhile, Spain easily thrashed Britain 5-0 thanks to a brace from Ramon Alegre, who scored in the 22nd and 46th minutes and added more through Santi Freixa (25), Eduard Arbos (54) and Victor Sojo (68).

In the Germany-Malaysia clash, penalty corner specialist Florian Keller guided his team to victory with a double strike in the 25th and 35th minutes while Matthias Witthaus (36) added the other.

Malaysia replied through Selvaraju Sandrakasi (54th) and Ismail Abu (62).

The win means Germany has booked its spot in the Sunday finals and with 16 points can afford to lose to Australia in Saturday's match.

But German coach Markus Weise was not taking anything for granted.

"It's good to be in the final with one game to go," he said.

"But we still have two matches to go and its not over until we win the title here."