Netherlands, Belgium enter Hockey World Cup quarters
bhubaneswar — Netherlands thrashed Canada 5-0 while Belgium hammered Pakistan in the crossover matches of the Hockey World Cup to qualify for the quarter-finals here on Tuesday.
Netherlands will now face India in the quarters on Thursday while Belgium will take on Germany.
In the first match of the day where Belgium hammered Pakistan 5-0, Belgium scored in each quarter with Alexander Hendrickx (10th minute), Thomas Briels (13th), Cédric Charlier (27th), Sébastien Dockier (35th) and Tom Boon (53rd) finding the target.
The second match between Netherlands and Canada saw some brilliant hockey from the Netherlands. The Dutch were a little sloppy with the penalty corner conversion but at the end registered a comfortable victory.
Thijs van Dam (40th minute and 48th) scored a brace while goals from Lars Balk (16th), Robbert Kemperman (20th) and Thierry Brinkman (41st) helped the Dutch team to enter the next round.
On Monday, England outclassed New Zealand 2-0.
England, who will now take on Olympic champions Argentina in the first quarterfinal on Wednesday, scored their first goal in the 25th minute as Will Calnan got on the scoresheet with a field strike.
Luke Taylor converted a penalty corner in the 44th minute to help England score a comfortable win.
The English were the better team against Black Sticks in the opening two quarters, carving out more goal scoring opportunities than their ninth-ranked opponents.
In the opening exchanges, England could have taken the lead in the fifth minute from a penalty corner but failed to.—