Bhubaneswar: Tuesday’s matches of Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup set the stage for quarterfinal clash between India and Netherlands on Thursday. Belgium will cross sticks with Germany the same day.
The crossover matches at Kalinga Stadium here saw Belgium and Netherlands living up to their titles of being the favourites. They didn’t have much difficulty defeating Pakistan and Canada, respectively. Both won by a margin of 5-0.
Belgium scored in all four quarters with Alexander Hendrickx (10th minute), Thomas Briels (13th), Cédric Charlier (27th), Sébastien Dockier (35th) and Tom Boon (53rd) finding the target.
Canadian goalkeeper saved 17 shots on target, including a penalty, still the team lost heavily. 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 make it to the next round.
Pakistan finished 12th, matching its rank in 2010 World Cup when it was at the bottom.
India Vs Netherlands
The two sides are separated by one place on the world rankings- India are fifth while Netherlands are fourth. However, the Dutch have fared well against the hosts in the past. In the 103 games played between the two sides, India has won 33 and Netherlands 48.
Speaking to the media, India captain Manpreet Singh had said, “The past results matter a lot – because Netherlands have better results against us. But, we have played well against them recently. We have also beaten them, we drew against them at Champions Trophy. Indian Hockey has improved a lot. The match will be tough, and which ever team plays better will win.”
In July this year, Team India had forced a 1-1 draw against hosts Netherlands in their last league match to set up the Champions Trophy summit clash with world number one Australia in Breda.
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