KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 27: All’s going well for the Dutch defending champions at the 10th World Cup hockey as they swept to their third victory with a 5-1 crushing of point-less Belgium Wednesday.
The Dutch were just too good for the Belgians and quickly put them in place with three goals in the first session and another two in the second to collect three more points for a total of nine.
The Dutch, bidding to become only the second side after Pakistan to win the World Cup four times, were a goal up on the 15th minute through a penalty corner blasted in by Marten Eikelboom, playing in his 147th international.
Two more strikes, one from Karel Klaver, a field attempt and the other a penalty corner hit by Taeke Taekema saw the champions sit pretty with a three-goal cushion at half-time.
Belgium defence appeared to have no answer to the attacking Dutch who showed no mercy to their rivals and scored their fourth through the experienced Teun de Nooijer in field play for his third goal of the tournament.
The hapless Belgians managed to get one back, Maxime Luycx scoring the consolation goal before Holland wound up the scoring with Taeke Taekema getting his second of the match from a short corner three minutes from time.
The Dutch, superior in attack as well as defence, forced eight short corners in the match out of which they converted three while Belgium had two of which they put in one.
Netherland’s victory Wednesday followed earlier wins over Argentina and New Zealand and they now play Spain Thursday in the difficult Pool A, labeled the Group of Death.
For Belgium, who are up against Germany tomorrow, it was their third straight defeat. They were beaten 3-2 by Pakistan and 2-0 by Spain.
Giles Bonnet, the Belgian coach admitted that his side made a lot of mistakes. “We could have defended better. The Dutch capitalized on our errors,” he said.
Netherland coach Joost Bellaart said that they never expected Belgium to be a threat to their campaign but added that the goal they conceded should not have been let in.
Meanwhile South Africa’s World Cup miseries continued as they were handed a 4-1 defeat by Argentina for whom it was their first win of the competition.
First half goals from Mario Almada and a brace by the highly experienced Jorge Lombi made things comfortable for the South Americans in the second half although they were down to ten men for a short period when Tomas MacCormik was sent off.
South Africa scored once through the exciting Greg Nicol in the second session while Argentina rounded off the scoring from a 70th minute short corner with a strike from Matias Vila.
Argentine coach Jorge Ruiz was pleased with the performance of his team despite the temporary sending off of MacCormik but he seemed more concerned with Wednesday’s match against Pakistan. “It will be a difficult game as Pakistan are looking for a place in the semifinals.”
He however said that although Pakistan have skilful players like Shahbaz Ahmed, they would treat the match just like another game.
Rob Pullen, the South African coach was upset with the way his players performed. “They played more as individuals rather than a team. They did not play well in the first half and allowed in two goals because of sloppy defending.”