NEW DELHI, Dec 10: Riding on Maxime Plennevaux’s double strike in the last 10 minutes of the match, Belgium posted a come-from-behind 2-2 draw against Pakistan while Germany made a statement why they are the defending champions by decimating minnows Egypt 6-0 to join them in the quarter-finals of the Junior Hockey World Cup here on Tuesday.
Belgium, who got seven points by virtue of two victories and a draw from three games, emerged Pool ‘A’ winners and will now take on Pool ‘B’ runners-up France in the quarter-finals on Thursday. Five-time champions Germany finished second in the pool on six points and will be up against Pool ‘B’ toppers Australia in the last-eight.
Pakistan, on the other hand, failed to qualify for the last eight after they drew Belgium 2-2 despite leading 2-0 at one point to finish with four points and along with Egypt (zero points) will now play the classification playoffs.
In the first match of Pool ‘A’ at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium, Niklas Bruns and Christopher Ruhr scored twice to enable Germany blanked Egypt with a tennis score.
Germany’s victory by a huge margin meant Pakistan needed to not just a win their last league encounter against Belgium but also required to win by 11 goals difference in order to make it to the quarter-finals. So, even before the start of their match, it was as good as over for Pakistan.
Despite being virtually out of the contention, the Pakistanis started on a positive note. In fact, they played much better as compared to their previous two league matches and pushed Belgium on to the backfoot in the initial 15 minutes.
Even though they took maximum control of the ball, Pakistan could not get past Belgian goalkeeper Arnaud Flamand and both teams started to neutralise each other in midfield.
Pakistan finally overwhelmed the Belgian defence in the second-half when Muhammad Dilber inherited the ball in the 41st minute and delivered a lethal shot straight into the target. Two minutes later, Pakistan had a chance to increase their lead after they earned a penalty corner but failed to convert it, courtesy a brilliant save by Flamand.
After a few minutes, Pakistani goalkeeper displayed a similar show as that of his Belgian counterpart, making an excellent save to deny Belgium from scoring the equaliser.
Pakistan increased their lead in the 54th minute via Muhammad Faisal Qadir at the conclusion of a swift counter-attack that swept the whole pitch in three quick passes.
Belgium finally managed to get the desired results in the 60th minute when Plennevaux stole a pass from a defender and blasted a backhand shot in the corner of the goalpost.
Momentum was now for Belgium and Plennevaux scored another spectacular goal, escaping his marker in the circle and managing a diving shot that left Mazhar Abbas stranded in the Pakistani goal.—Agencies
