Goals from Jan Schiffer and Lukas Windfeder gave Pool C winners Germany a 2-0 lead at the break before Florian Scholten made it 3-0 with 18 minutes of the match remaining at the Major Dhyan Chand Hockey Stadium.

England coach Jon Bleby removed his goalkeeper Chris Wyver in the latter stages and it was a decision which was instantly rewarded, with competition top scorer Ed Horler netting twice in two minutes to drag the team back into the match before a breakaway goal from Olympian Timm Herzbruch sealed the victory for Germany.

"I was very concerned," said Germany coach Valentin Altenburg, referring to England’s late rally.

"You could see that the game slowed down, they scored a penalty corner and they were suddenly alive again.

"I think that we were a little bit too much in the semi-finals in our heads, so I was concerned.

"We really needed that fourth goal and I’m very happy that we actually made it."

Germany’s semi-final opponents Belgium booked their place in the penultimate round earlier in the day, thanks to a 4-1 shoot-out win following a 1-1 draw.

The Pool B winners had the better of the first-half chances but found Argentina goalkeeper Emiliano Bosso in fine form to make a series of excellent saves and keep them off the score-sheet.

Argentina threatened on the counter attack throughout the first period, and it was they who took the lead early in the second-half when team captain Maico Casella smashed a volley off the underside of the crossbar from close range.

Bosso continued his brilliance throughout the second period and even saved a penalty stroke before Belgium eventually got their leveller, with captain Victor Wegnez scoring two minutes from the end to send the match into a shoot-out in which Belgian stopper Loic van Doren excelled.

Van Doren was beaten only once, with Nicholas Poncelet, Arthur de Sloover, Wegnez and Henri Raes scoring the goals to put Belgium into the semi-finals.

The third quarter-final of the day was a bruising battle between Pool A winners Australia and Pool B runners-up The Netherlands, with the former sealing their semi-final spot with a 2-1 success.

Australia took the lead thanks to a wonderful piece of skill from Kirin Arunasalam, who produced a brilliant touch in front of Dutch goalkeeper Maurits Visser to find the net.

Blake Govers squandered a gilt-edged chance to double the advantage from the penalty spot just before half-time and it proved costly when Jip Janssen slammed home a penalty corner drag flick midway through the second-half.

However, the Australians were not to be denied with Jack Welsh firing home a close-range winner following some persistent work along the backline from man of the match Lachlan Sharp.

Next up for them is a clash with hosts India, who overcame Spain 2-1 in the final match of the day to the delight of the home crowd.

The Pool D winners started brightly, but it was Pool C runners-up Spain who ended up taking a 1-0 lead into half-time courtesy of a penalty corner drag-flick from Marc Serrahima.

Spain were superb defensively, keeping the dominant Indians at bay until the 57th minute when Simranjeet Singh finished off a penalty corner rebound.  

With four minutes remaining, the winning goal arrived thanks to a fine penalty corner effort from Olympian Harmanpreet Singh, who produced his best drag-flick of the day to send India into the last four.

The semi-finals are scheduled to take place tomorrow with Belgium and Germany up first, followed by Australia and India.