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Hockey World Cup: Five-star Netherlands thump Canada, face India in quarters
Netherlands were fluid, maintained their formation for almost the entire game and created as many as 38 circle entries in comparison to Canada’s six.
Manpreet Singh knows India have a huge task in the quarter-finals which is why, despite being unwell, he was at Kalinga Stadium on Tuesday.
Watching from the stands, the skipper wanted to measure their opponents next up and for good reason as he saw the Netherlands demolish Canada 5-0 in the crossover game and enter the last-8 stage.
The Dutchmen have been solid, apart from the 1-4 blip against Germany, and have thrashed every opponent they have faced so far.
The case remained the same as Thijs van Dam (40th and 58th) scored a brace with Lars Balk (16th), Robbert Kemperman (20th) and Thierry Brinkman (41st) helping the three-time winners enter the quarter-finals.
World No.11 Canada will return home empty handed as they failed to win even a single game in the tournament.
The Dutch were fluid, maintained their formation for almost the entire game and created as many as 38 circle entries in comparison to Canada’s six. Though they failed to convert their four short corner chances, the world No.4 team didn’t really need any as their strikers were good enough to do the job at hand.
“We played a great game. We’ll take some rest and prepare for the next game against India. It’s good that we are entering the quarter-finals with a big win,” Dutch defender Jorrit Croon said. “Margin was not in our mind but we came entered the ground with an aim of playing our best hockey and score as many goals as we can.”
Pakistan eliminated
Earlier in the day, the gap between the former masters of the game and a team that has slowly risen to the top echelons of the hockey world was clearly visible.
The most successful team in World Cup history, Pakistan were a shadow of themselves in the crossover game as they went down 0-5 to Belgium, who showed they have come here to settle for nothing less than the title.
Alexander Hendrickx (10th minute), captain Thomas Briels (13th), Cedric Charlier (27th), Sebastien Dockier (35th) and Tom Boon (53rd) were on the mark, giving the Rio Olympics silver medallists a clean-sheet victory.
“Very happy to score five goals without conceding one. It’s very good for our confidence for the rest of the tournament. We really wanted to control the game from the start and for 60 minutes we were consistent, holding the ball and creating chances,” said skipper Briels.
Belgium will now face two-time champions Germany in the quarter-finals on Thursday, eyeing a maiden semi-final berth. “We are looking to improve. Our game is not perfect yet but we are ready for Germany. They have got an extra bit of rest, so we have to be 100 per cent. They beat Holland as well. We have to be patient with them. Germany defends really well so we won’t have the same chances like today. We have to be efficient against them, try to find gaps and exploit weaknesses as every team has them,” said Briels.
