Pakistan suffer blow as Dutch rout them 4-1
Pakistan Times Sports Desk

LAHORE: Pakistan’s chances of regaining the Champions Trophy Hockey Tournament suffered a big blow Tuesday when Reigning Champion the Netherlands routed them 4-1 in their all important tie at National Hockey Stadium here.

Seven-time Champion Dutch produced an inspired late second half rally to notch-up a convincing win by scoring two goals in the last four minutes.

Inside left Klaver Karel scored a field goal in 65th minute and skipper Jeroen Delmee blasted a goal off penalty corner in two minute time to complete home team’s rout.

Earlier, Dutch opened the scoring in 15th minute through a field effort by Roland Brouwer and Taekema Taeke scored second goal in the fourth minute of the second session. Pakistan offered a great challenge to Dutch side before going down which was not fully reflected by the scoreline despite a strong vociferous crowd of over 25,000 in the arena.

The Netherlands were leading 2-1 by 64th minute but a clinical display by Dutch in the last ten minutes of the match made their victory an impressive one.

While the Dutch team demonstrated their firepower both through penalty corners and field play, the home team forwards were disappointing missing a couple of sitters besides wasting a lot of opportunities.

Had left winger Shakeel Abbasi not missed a golden opportunity in the 52nd minute Pakistan could have got a fair chance to stage a fight.

Abbasi, who led Pakistan in Junior Asia last April in Karachi, got a stray ball over 25 yard line with Dutch defence upfront. But in hurry with a goal-keeper Guus Vogels at his mercy his blistering shoot safely sailed over the bars.

Spearhead Kashif Jawwad also missed a sitter. A combined move between left winger Akhtar Ali and Tariq Aziz ended a goal-mouth cross for Kashif but he failed to Tap the ball.

Dutch team took the lead in 16th minute when Brouwer neatly beat Pakistan goalie Salman Akber after connecting a cross from Floris Evers in 15th minue. But visting team’s joy was short-lived as within four-minutes, Sohail Abbas Leveled the scores when his drag-flick hit the roof of the net to give only delight to his countrymen. This was the fourth goal of the tournament by Sohail Abbas.

India beat World Champions, Germany 3-1 to register their first win of the six nation Champions Trophy hockey tournament here at National Hockey Stadium on Tuesday.

India, beaten by Spain and Holland, stormed back in the second half to turn table on opponents after trailing 0-1 at first half.

Germany which suffered their third defeat in the tournament after their early losses to Pakistan and Spain failed to counter the flow of attacks maintained by the Indian forwards who appeared fully determined in a victory hunt.

New look German side which is in the process of rebuilding after Athens Olympics snatched the lead in the 20th minute when Marco Jan Montag converted the first short corner out of total two of the play.

Indians went into the second with greater zeal and confidence taking control with combined moves and penetration with the aid of both flanks and mid field.

They struck the equalizer in a wonderful move and display of flanks and mid field with Sundeep Micheal firmly hitting the ball in after Viren Rasquinha initiated the move from the half line with a superb sprint running into the rivals area before guiding the ball to V S Vinaya who fed Sundeep with a cross in the 40th minute.

In a brilliant show of artistic hockey, India slammed two goals in ten minutes to seal the fate of their opponents who found it hard to salvage their front in the presence of a handful of crowd.

Leveling the score proved a big inspiration for the Indian side which seemed focused to restore edge for their opponents. They achieved their objective with the 58th minute goal scored by Arjun Halappa and Vivek Gupta dumped their opponents by adding team’s third goal. India got one short corner in the first half and missed it.

Spain overcame a fighting New Zealand 3-1 on Tuesday to record their third consecutive win and retain the top spot in the men’s Champions Trophy field hockey tournament.

Pau Quemada scored two penalty corners and Santiago Freixa netted a superb reverse flick after a solo run down the centre to bring Spain victory after both sides were locked goalless at half-time.

Darren Smith scored a consolation goal for the Kiwis to level at 1-1, but it was not enough to prevent his side plunging to their third defeat in the six-nation round-robin league.

Spain, who finished fourth at the Athens Olympics in August, have nine full points from three matches with crucial games ahead against title contenders Netherlands and Pakistan.

The Dutch and the hosts, who have six points from two matches, face off later on Tuesday in a key encounter.

The top two teams from the league will contest the final on Sunday.

Spain, who beat second-string Germany and India in their previous matches, almost stumbled in their first big game when the Kiwis kept them at bay in the first half.

The Spaniards went ahead six minutes after the interval when Quemada, who had missed two penalty corners in the first half, struck with the third.

Smith drew level six minutes later but Quemada and Freixa pumped in two more goals to beat back New Zealand’s challenge.

Spain, however, lost the services of young striker Eduard Arbos for the rest of the tournament when he dislocated his left shoulder after a fall during the match.

The Kiwis, sixth at Athens and playing in only their fourth Champions Trophy, lost their first two matches to the Netherlands and Pakistan.

Spain’s Dutch coach Maurits Hendriks was a relieved man after the win.●