European teams dominate hockey World Cup

New Delhi: The dominance of the European teams was highlighted once again as three from the continent made it to the semifinals of the FIH Hero Honda World Cup. After favourites Australia and aspirants England had ensured knockout berths on Monday, defending champions Germany and three-time winners The Netherlands too advanced, though with contrasting last outings.

Germany became the only team to remain unbeaten in the league with a convincing 5-2 victory over New Zealand, even as the Dutch suffered a 1-2 setback at the hands of Korea, the last flicker from an Asian team in the preliminary league. The last round of the Pool ‘B’ matches saw some keen contests, Argentina beating Canada to take fourth place and set up a play-off with India for the seventh place.

But the match of the day was the one featuring the Dutch, who ran into a sprightly Korean side looking for a bigger margin that could push them ahead, and one who have beaten them often in recent big internationals.

A penalty-corner awarded in the dying seconds could not be converted by famed drag-flicker Taeke Taekema, ending The Netherlands’s chances of topping the pool and avoiding Australia in the next round.

“We were playing to be in the semifinals. The Koreans played a fine game and went all out in attack. They deserved to win for converting the chances they got, but we are not bothered by the loss,” said captain Teun de Nooijer after holding off the Koreans, who needed just one more strike to catch up with them on goal difference and advance on the basis of more goals scored.

Just two goals separated the two, and one more goal from Korea would not only have taken their goal difference up by one, it would also have brought down that of the Dutch by one. The Netherlands had started with gusto, Ronald Brouwer striking with the first move of the match in tandem with Nooijer within half a minute of the start. But Hyun Woo Nam slammed in a first-timer to convert Korea’s first penalty-corner to equalise in the 31st minute.

The second session belonged to the Koreans, Jong Ho Seo’s 45th-minute goal off a pass from Sung Hoo Yoon helping the Asian champions to lift their game in the subsequent minutes. Hyo Sik You and Lee Nam Yong also made some dangerous moves as the Dutch posted themselves around the ‘D’ to ensure there were no more goals.

Germany, defending their two consecutive titles, ensured they kept in line for another one by overcoming the Kiwis. On eight points after four matches with two draws, the Germans became the only team to remain undefeated in the league stage.

Christoph Menke dived to get a stick to the ball for the first goal, while Florian Fuchs scored an opportunistic one off a rebound from a penalty-corner attempt as Germany went 2-0 ahead by half-time. Philip Witte further increased the lead early in the second session as Germany looked set to race away. But New Zealand scored a goal through Shea McAleese off a penalty-corner and then Nicholas Wilson was put in position to score by Blair Hilton, in a space of four minutes. However, Germany converted penalty-corners through Moritz Furste and Matthias Witthaus in subsequent minutes (63rd and 64th).

In the Argentina-Canada match, the team from South America led comfortably for most of the time, and after a resurgence from the opposition, ended the match with a goal just seconds from the long hooter. After Martin Lucas Vila, Enrique Paredes and Nicolas Almada put the team ahead, Scott Tuper and David James provided a whiff of hope to the Canadians. But it was a sliding goal from Tomas Argento that ended the match on a thrilling note.