Korea vs. Netherlands: 2-4 (half-time: 0-2)
First chances were for Rogier Hofman after ten minutes
of play. Following a powerful shot, he picked up the rebound from the
goalkeeper and had plenty of time to adjust a second shot, but Lee Myung
Ho in the Korean goal was up to the task on both occasions. The teams
were offering an enjoyable display of attacking hockey, with superior
individual skills on both sides, and the crowd quickly warmed up in the
chilly early morning.
The Netherlands earned a penalty-corner mid-way through the period
and Mink Van Der Weerden slammed it in goal to open the scoring. Soon
after, Valentin Verga surprised the Korean defense with a sudden shot
from the top of the circle and the Dutch team appeared on their way to a
comfortable fifth win. Korea was however not ready to give up yet. They
had a series of penalty-corners in the final minutes of the period, but
Jang Jong Hyun’s flicks were saved by Jaap Stockmann in the Dutch goal
and the break was reached with the two goal gap.
Korea kept trying and had a few good chances early in
second period, first for Lee Nam Yong on a ball rolling tantalizingly on
the goal line behind Jaap Stockmann, then by Kim Young Jin who
collected a long ball high behind the Dutch defense but failed to
redirect it past Stockmann. Their hopes of coming back were dashed when
Roderick Weusthof was fouled when progressing in the circle and
converted himself the penalty-stroke to build a seemingly insurmountable
3-goal lead.
Nam Hyun Woo closed the gap on penalty-corner with still 16 minutes
left in the period. He however injured himself delivering the flick and
had to be taken away on a stretcher. Korea showed their depth in the
exercise when Jang Jong Hyun was as impressive and efficient on the next
penalty-corner chance, closing the gap to one goal. It was too close
for comfort for The Netherlands and they promptly re-established their
two-goal lead by Billy Bakker after a swift counter-attack that baffled
the Korean defense.
With the win, The Netherlands finished unbeaten in the
group stage and advanced to the semi-finals as winner of Pool B, while
Germany were guaranteed a semi-final place at the expense of Korea.
(Yan Huckendubler)
Germany vs New Zealand: 5-5 (half-time: 2-4)
Nick Wilson’s tip in and Richard Petherick’s penalty
corner strike had New Zealand 2-0 inside six minutes before Oskar Deecke
got one back just three minutes later. Zeller stung the base of the
post from a corner soon after in an all-action opening salvo before a
two-goal wedge was re-established when Ryan Archibald’s superb
right-wing cross ended up on Stephen Jenness’s stick for a simple finish
and 3-1.
Florian Fuchs replied was a nicely worked three-on-one move, passed
around Kyle Pontifex but Simon Child closed out the half with his first
goal on the half hour, calmly flipping home a corner rebound. His
second, making it 5-2, came just 45 seconds into the second period,
cracking home from the edge of the circle.
From there, though, Germany discovered their scoring
touch. Thilo Stralkowski drove home a penalty corner and Zeller got the
deficit down to one, finishing off another indoor-style move. And his
last act was to flip home his side’s fifth goal from off the ground. It
made little tangible difference for Germany who remain in second place
and through to play Australia in the semi-final. They will fret over the
health of captain Max Mueller who picked up a nasty thumb injury in the
first half, not appearing for the duration of the second period.
But for New Zealand it means they are stuck in fifth and destined for
the ninth/tenth playoff against Argentina rather than seventh against
Pakistan.
(Stephen Findlater)
India vs Belgium: 0-3 (half-time: 0-1)
Belgium moved a big step closer to third spot in Pool B
as they had the clinical edge India lacked to run up a misleading 3-0
scoreline as Vincent Vanasch was by far the busier goalkeeper on the
day. Superb strikes from Jerome Dekeyser, Gauthier Boccard and Tom Boon –
on his 100th international appearance – mean the Belgians have a shot
at fifth place in the competition having already massively improved on
their pre-tournament ranking of 11th.They kept third spot by virtue of New Zealand's draw with Germany in the day's final game.
Dekeyser started the scoring in brilliant fashion in the 15th
minute, racing onto Felix Denayer’s through ball, finishing first time
with a rocket over Bharat Kumar Chetri’s shoulder. India’s vitality on
the counter attack should have yielded a couple of goals in response.
Standing in their way, though, was the superb Vincent Vanasch while
Shivendra Singh clipped the outside of the post.
While Indian chances went astray, Belgium snapped up
their half-chances and Boccard profited from a superb piece of umpiring
from Nigel Iggo. He held his whistle after Boon seemed to have earned a
penalty corner, and the 20-year-old Boccard fired home through a narrow
opening. And Boon closed out the win after more Vanasch heroics with two
minutes to go with an excellent, low reverse-stick shot.
India end the pool phase with five losses from five and will now play South Africa for eleventh place on Saturday at 8.30am.
(Stephen Findlater)
