Pakistan stun Holland to reach Champions Trophy semifinals

BHUBANESWAR: Putting their disappointing pool campaign behind, an inspired Pakistan notched up their first win over the Netherlands in 16 years, stunning the World Cup and Olympic silver medallist 4-2 to reach the semifinals of Champions Trophy tournament on Thursday.

Schedule & Results

The 4-2 win was Pakistan's first win over the Dutch in the Champions Trophy in 12 attempts, a run dating back to 1998 edition of the tournament in Lahore.

After back-to-back wins in pool stages, the Netherlands slumped to their second straight defeat in the tournament and that too against a lower-ranked side. The Dutch had earlier lost 2-3 against India in their final pool match on Tuesday.

Surprisingly, Pakistan, who returned winless from the pool engagements, looked a completely different side today as they dominated the mighty Dutch for major part of the match.

The Netherlands, on the other hand, looked a pale shadow of themselves as they failed to take control of the match and lacked in discipline.

Pakistan also had an impressive record in penalty corners today as they converted three out of the four set pieces that came their way.

However, it was the Dutch who got off to a flying start when Jeroen Hertzberger powered home a field goal in the sixth minute.

Soon after, Pakistan skipper Muhammad Imran brilliantly saved a Mink van der Weerden drag-flick off the line to keep their lead intact.

Pakistan depended on counter-attacks today and their plan yielded dividends.

It was Muhammad Waqas who created an opening with his brilliant work in the right wing for Muhammad Umar Bhutta (16th) and the Pakistani forward made no mistake to draw level for his side early in the second quarter.

Muhammad Rizwan Senior then drew a brilliant save from Dutch custodian Jaap Stockman but Pakistan managed to take the lead five minutes from halftime when Imran scored with a low flick from a penalty corner.

The Netherlands leveled the scores four minutes into the second half through Constantijn Jonker (39th) who neatly finished Rogier Hofman's driven cross from the right flank.

But Pakistan kept up the pressure on the Dutch goal and Muhammad Irfan pumped in two goals in quick succession in the last 10 minutes of the match to surprise their opponents.

Irfan's both goals came from penalty corner variations. He first restored Pakistan's lead in the 51st before applying the killer touch a minute later.

Pakistan will now face the winners of the match between India and Belgium in the semifinals, while the Netherlands will play classification matches for fifth to eight positions.

Pakistan coach Shahnaz Sheikh is understandably a happy man and said they played their best hockey today after experimenting in the pool stages.

"Our tournament started today. We played our real game today. What experimentations we had to do we did in the pool matches," Sheikh told reporters after the win.

"Before departure from Pakistan I said our target is a top four finish."

Asked who he would like to face as opponent between India and Belgium in the semis, the Pakistan coach said: "Obviously, we want to play against India because this will help in reviving India-Pakistan hockey."

The Netherlands coach Max Caldas was critical of his team's display today.

"We were disappointing. We lacked discipline. It didn't look like we are ready to win the game," he said.

Champions Trophy: India rise to flatten Belgium, meet Pakistan in semifinals

BHUBANESWAR: 'When you fall down, you gotta pick yourself back up'. This seems to be the Indian hockey team's motto these days. The critics dismissed them when they lost their first two matches but the 'men in blue' stayed strong, regrouped and hit back. They first defeated the world No. 2 Netherlands in the group stage and on Thursday, when the stakes got higher, India got the scalp of world No. 4 Belgium 4-2 in the quarterfinals at the Kalinga Stadium which truly rocked.

Schedule & Result

Cheered on by the capacity crowd, Sardar & Co came back from a two-goal deficit to stun the Belgians and set up a dream semifinal clash with Pakistan which will be played on Saturday. In the other semifinal Germany will take on Australia. Incidentally, the top two teams from both groups at the end of the group stage are now out of the tournament. Such is the strange new format but nobody in the sub-continent is complaining.

India began the match with a lot of confidence and took the attack to Belgium early in the first quarter. They had a great chance to score on the counter after Nikkin Thimmaiah played a beautiful through pass from the left flank towards the front of the goal. But Dharamvir Singh slipped, failed to get a touch and it was the Red Lions who took the lead the very next minute from a penalty corner.

It was their third penalty corner of the match and Felix Denayer made no mistake. To the dismay of the crowd, Sebastien Dockier made it 2-0 three minutes into the second quarter. Tanguy Cosnys pushed it hard from the top of the D and Dockier flicked it beautifully past goalkeeper PR Sreejesh.

However, India took it on the chin and fought back. Cheered on by the crowd, SV Sunil won India their first penalty corner of the match through a counter-attack and Rupinder Pal Singh got into the attack. Rupinder, who had scored in the last match against the Netherlands too, flicked it into the top-right corner of the net giving no chance to the goalkeeper.

The goal lifted India who played some of the best hockey they have in a very long time throughout the second quarter. That eventually got them the equalizer three minutes from the end of first half. VR Raghunath slapped it hard from the left flank into the D and S Uthappa did well to deflect it into the net.

Belgium tried hard to get back into the game in the third quarter but some tight defending by the hosts kept the score level. The Indians did not sit back and defend. Like the first half, they counter-attacked and took the lead for the first time in the match four minutes from the end of third quarter. This time it was Akashdeep Singh who sounded the board after Sunil's shot was blocked by the goalkeeper.

Their tails up, India went into the attack, taking advantage of the huge gaps in the Belgian defence and their fourth of the night came four minutes into the fourth quarter. Manpreet Singh stole the ball in India's half and passed it to Sardar. The skipper in turn gave it to Dharamvir who calmly put it through the legs of the custodian to bring the house down.bhubaneswar