Jessulat spares Germany's blushes as they continue to stutter in Delhi

GERMANY'S Hockey World Cup campaign continued to stutter as the Olympic champions scraped past lowly Argentina in Delhi.

STUTTERING THROUGH: Defending champions Germany are yet to hit top gear but continue to remain unbeaten at the hockey World Cup in Delhi (Getty Images)

The defending champions remain unbeaten in India but, having failed to impress in their opening 2-2 draw with South Korea, they looked far-from imperious again on Friday in a 4-3 defeat of Argentina.

The Germans stay set for a semi-final place in second, but had goalkeeper Tim Jessulat for their three points against Argentina.

The signs of improvement in a 6-0 defeat of Canada were gone as cracks began to appear in the backline every time Argentina pressed forward.

Martin Zwicker handed Germany the perfect start, pouncing on Matthias Witthaus' rebounded shot in the fourth minute but less than a minute later Argentina were level as Lucas Martin Vila lobbed Jessulat.

Zwicker and Witthaus put Germany seemingly in control with strikes in the 14th and 23rd minutes but Argentina had been threatening Jessulat's goal and broke through again just before the interval as Matias Enrique Paredes deflected in a penalty corner.

Martin Haner's high penalty corner restored Germany's two-goal cushion, but once again Argentina struck back with Pedro Ibarra's deflected penalty corner finding its way home.

The South Americans sensed an upset was on the cards and pushed hard for an equaliser but time and time again Jessulat was on hand to frustrate, with Lucas Rafael Rossi wasting the best chance to equalise with three minutes left on the clock.

The Netherlands stay top of the pool as they continued their 100 per cent record with a 6-0 defeat of whipping-boys Canada.

The Dutch had impressed in defeats of Argentina and New Zealand and continued their dominance of the pool with Rogier Hofman and Taeka Taekema both scoring twice.

Ronald Brouwer and Rob Reckers also netted for the Netherlands who face Germany in their penultimate pool clash on Sunday.

Meanwhile, New Zealand handed South Korea their first defeat of the tournament with a 2-1 victory.

Andrew Hayward opened the scoring for the Black Sticks with a fourth minute penalty corner before captain Dean Couzins doubled the lead with a penalty shot in the 22nd minute.

The match could have been a different story if South Korea had been as clinical from dead ball situations with seven penalty corners going begging before Nam Yong Lee finally reduced the deficit with a penalty shot at the death.

But with just 23 seconds to grab an equaliser, South Korea could do little to do to prevent New Zealand capturing their second win from three matches.