Hockey WC: Defending champions Belgium thrash Korea 5-0; Netherlands, Germany start campaign with wins

The matches of Pools B and C got underway on the second day of the World Cup and it was a day when three teams from Europe took on rivals from Asia.

Netherlands, Belgium and Germany faced stiff opposition from Malaysia, Korea and Japan respectively, but stepped up their game in the second halves to register wins with big margins.

The Netherlands secured a 4-0 win against Malaysia in Rourkela. This was followed by Pool B action in Bhubaneswar where Belgium scored 5 second-half goals to clinch victory. Germany also scored all its goals in the second half against Japan and won by a margin of 3-0.

Netherlands vs Malaysia 4-0

The start to the game looked like it could be a long day for Netherlands as the Malaysian defence frustrated the Dutch attackers, comfortably keeping them out of dangerous positions. But an error in the 20th minute by the defence gave Netherlands a half chance and they showed why they are so dangerous as Thijs van Dam pounced on the loose ball and put it away to open the scoring for Netherlands. The Dutch added a second goal before the half as Jip Janssen who had seen a penalty corner saved earlier in the half, put a penalty stroke away in the 24th minute to double his team's lead.

Netherlands added two more goals through Teun Beins and Jorrit Croon, in the fourth quarter after Malaysia had spent a good part of the third quarter on the attack trying to score a goal that would let them back into the game. The final scoreline reflected a comfortable 4-0 win for Netherlands, but Malaysia had their moments in the game for large portions, primarily in the 1st and 3rd quarters.

Jorrit Croon, scorer of the beautiful 4th Dutch goal was awarded player of the match and said, "It is a great feeling playing in this stadium in front of this packed crowd. It's a good win to start the tournament but we can't get carried away, its just one game and its a long tournament."

Belgium vs Korea 5-0

Belgium vs Korea promised to be a thriller with the Olympic and World Champions going head-to-head against Korea who were in brilliant form during the FIH Hockey Men's Nations Cup that took place in December 2022. Korea gave a great account of themselves in the first half, going toe to toe with Belgium in attack while also keeping the Belgian attack at bay to go into the half at 0-0.

Belgium scored in the first minute of the second half with Alexander Hendrickx burying his third penalty corner attempt of the day. The first goal opened the floodgates for Belgium and they tacked on 4 more goals in the final 16 minutes of the game to earn a comfortable win.

Victor Wegnez was awarded the player of the match and said, "It was a great team effort. I collect the player of the match, but it's a team game and we played really well as a team to get this win, which we are very happy with."

Germany vs Japan 3-0

Germany vs Japan followed a similar pattern to the game that preceded it as the first half saw Japan frustrate the 2-time champions and match them step for step, but a drop in intensity in the second half gave the German's a foot in the door and they made full use of the opportunity to grab the goals and take all 3 points.

Gonzalo Peillat was stopped twice in the first half from the penalty corners, so Germany tried an intricate variation in the second half and it unlocked the Japanese defence with captain Mats Grambusch getting the final touch. Germany scored a second on a brilliant counter as a pass by Muller from his own half found Ruhr behind the Japanese defence, and he rounded the keeper and put the ball in the back of the goal brilliantly. Some more good work by Ruhr then allowed Prinz to get on the scoresheet to make it 3-0 to Germany in the 49th minute and seal the win.

Christopher Ruhr who scored the second goal and set up the third for Germany was awarded player of the match and said, "My goal was all thanks to quite an intuitive pass by Muller and I just had the keeper to beat, so that was the easy part. It's great to play in front of 15,000 loud cheering fans in India and I couldn't feel any better after this win." (ANI)