Bhubaneswar: The Netherlands thrashed a hapless Pakistan 5-1 in their last Pool D match of the Men’s Hockey World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium here Sunday. The Oranjes entered the cross-overs with this emphatic victory.
Thierry Brinkman(6th minute), Valentin Verga (27th), Bob Voogt (37th), Jorrit Croon (47th) and Van der Weeden (59th) were the scorers for the Netherlands while Umar Bhutta (ninth) got the consolation goal for Pakistan.
As expected, Netherlands were into an early attack. They had most of the possession in the early minutes. They earned their first penalty corner in the third minute, but Van der ven Sam fired the shot wide.
The Dutch maintained their tempo and Brinkman scored the easiest of goals after tapping the ball into an open net in the sixth minute to open the account.
Pakistan came back strongly to earn their first penalty corner in the next minute thanks to Quadir. Mubashar’s flick was saved, but The Green Shirts bagged another penalty corner.
Netherlands referred it only to lose the referral. Bhutta converted it brilliantly in the ninth minute to restore parity. Both the teams were at their competitive best during the first quarter and it ended with 1-1 scoreline.
Netherlans started the second quarter strongly as Seve van Ass cut his way into the Pakistan circle and earned their second penalty corner in the 18th minute. Dutch tried a deft encounter, but Pakistan custodian Imran Butt came to the rescue.
The Dutch continued to exert a lot of pressure in and around Pakistan circle. Pakistan fought back well to bag a penalty corner in the 23rd minute but messed it up as Blaak came to the Dutch’s rescue.
Netherlands retaliated back as Verga scored three minutes from the half time break with a nice deflection from Van Ass as Pakistan defence were caught napping.
The Oranjes continued with their surge to earn a penalty corner in the 33rd minute through skipper Billy Bakker but couldn’t capitalise as Van Der Weeden’s shot was saved by Imran.
The Dutch built on their attack. Jeroen Hertzberger found Voogt unmarked at the far post and the Dutch had their third goal in the 37th minute. The World No.4 side persisted with their high press and got yet another penalty corner in the 40th minute.
But Hertzberger missed twice of his attempts. The Netherlands were sitting pretty with a 3-1 scoreline in their favour after the end of the third quarter.
The Dutch started to assert themselves in the last quarter and Pakistan were pegged back into their own circle. In the process they got yet another penalty corner in the 47th minute.
Though they couldn’t stop the flick properly, yet they combined well in the end to strike their fourth goal with Jorrit Croon getting the final touch to it. They were now in a strong position with a 4-1 cushion.
Pakistan looked desperate to make amends. But the Dutch were not ready to give an inch for the opposition to progress.
Finally, Pakistan had their moments in the 57th minute when they got a PC, but their effort went futile. Dutch were not satisfied enough and they converted another penalty corner through Van Der Weeden in the closing moments to seal a thumping win.
