|
|
|
| March 6, 2002 | Wednesday | Zilhaj 21, 1422 |
Favourites through to semifinals of World Cup
KUALA LUMPUR, March 5: Champions Netherland hardly faced any problems Tuesday, blanking South Africa 3-0 to check into the semifinals of the 10th Men’s World Cup hockey tournament.
With 16 points from seven games, that included one defeat and a tied match, the Dutch finished second in Pool A behind Germany, conquerors of Pakistan earlier in the day.
It was a cakewalk for Netherland as they went two goals ahead with the exciting Teun de Nooijer scoring their first goal on the 11th that was followed by a Karel Klaver strike six minutes from lemon-time.
But the Dutch, bidding to match Pakistan’s record of four World Cups, did not seem to be their usual selves against a side that could win only one match in this tournament. And if short-corners are any reflection of the way things went, Holland had just two, both in the second half.
South Africa, with just four points to show, defended stoutly to deny the Dutch the room to create scoring chances. However the Orange brigade did manage to put one in the second half when Piet Hein Geeris netted on the 41st minute.
In the semifinals, to be played Thursday after Wednesday’s rest day, Netherland have a date with the only unbeaten team of the competition Aussies who completed their Pool B assignments with a 4-3 defeat of India to claim maximum 21 points from their seven matches.
In another Pool A match, New Zealand carved out their second win of the competition, beating bottom-of-the-table Belgium 4-3 with Hayden Shaw scoring the first hat trick of the tournament.
The Kiwis had to wait for a good 24 minutes before Shaw struck from a short corner only to see Belgium coming back with a befitting reply six minutes later, Vitali Kholopov firing home in open play.
New Zealand then had the Belgians against the wall in the second half that saw Shaw completing his hat trick scoring off penalty corners in the 41st and 62nd minutes. Umesh Parag followed up that brilliant effort soon afterwards, scoring a fine field goal before Belgium responded through Loic Vandeweghe with three minutes remaining.
Japan brushed aside a hapless Cuba picking up a 4-2 victory, their third of the World Cup as they finished with 10 points in Pool B. The boys from the land of the rising sun, have shown in this tournament that they are on the up in world hockey, surprising England, beating Poland and holding India, the former champions to a draw.
After the Cubans went ahead through a 19th minute penalty corner hit from Hernandez Blanco, Japan struck back, captain Takahiko Yamahori scoring in field play. However a determined effort from Cuba earned them the lead again when Garcia Rodriguez chipped one in on the 30th.
Japan then went on the offensive, Akira Takahashi earning them the equalizer just before half-time off a short corner. Two more goals in the second session, the first from Makoto Karuo and the second off a 64th minute set-piece blasted in by Yamahori again, left the Cubans without a point from seven matches.
Australia, the 1986 champions, became the only team in the World Cup thus far not to have drop a point in seven outings as they withstood a strong Indian challenge to win.
In an exciting game, it were the Indians who appeared headed to salvage some pride following a poor show earlier on in the tournament. They were a goal up by the 25th minute, Jugraj Singh converting a penalty corner for a well deserved half-time lead.
But Australia restored parity on the 42nd through Craig Victory, only for Daljit Singh to put India ahead again. The Aussies then showed their champion pedigree and slammed three goals in the later stages of the game, the first of which came from a penalty stroke taken by Jeremy Hiskins. The other two came from the sticks of Brent Livermore and Matthew Smith.
England meanwhile shocked Korea with first half penalty corner conversions by Mathews Dave. The defeat did no harm to Korea though, as Malaysia, who were required to wallop Poland by eight goals to qualify for the semifinals from Pool B ahead of the Koreans, could score only draw with Poland 2-2.
Argentina upset Spain Argentina finished third in Pool A ahead of Pakistan after defeating Spain 3-1 in a late match. The Spaniards wiped out the South Americans lead they had obtained through Mario Almada collecting a field goal on the 24th minute.
Argentina had the match wrapped up with two more goals before half-time by Rodrigo Vila and Almada. There was no scoring in the second half.
Poland hold hosts
Malaysia, playing in front of a packed house, Malaysia made the crowd go wild with joy when they got their first goal from Jiwa Mohan but Poland quickly hit back to score twice from short corners taken by Eugeniusz Gaczkowski before Malaysia put the game on an even keel via a short corner from K. Shanmuganathan.
The classification matches starting Thursday will see Pakistan facing Malaysia for placing five to eight. Other pairings are: South Africa v Cuba (13-16), Poland v Belgium (13-16), Spain v India (9-12), Japan v New Zealand (9-12), Argentina v England (5-8|).
Belgium 3 New Zealand 4
South Africa 0 Netherlands 3
Argentina 3 Spain 1
Cuba 2 Japan 4
England 2 South Korea 0
Australia 4 India 3
Poland 2 Malaysia 2
|
|
|
|
