A spirited Belgian side stunned reigning junior European champions Netherlands 3-2 in a keenly-contested tie of the Hockey Junior World Cup here at the Major Dhyanchand stadium on Sunday.
Though they dominated the game for the majority of the time, it was the Dutch who went ahead when Terrance Pieters sounded the board in the 38th minute. But Belgium struck through goals from Thomas Verheijen (48th minute), Quentin van Lierde (56th minute) and Henri Raes (69th minute) to take three points from the tie. Bram van Groesen pulled one back for the Netherlands in the 64th minute.
Belgium are atop Pool B with two wins from as many games and have booked their place in the quarterfinals.
Earlier in the day, title holders Germany recorded a thumping 6-1 win over Japan. Anton Boeckel (25th, 39th minutes) struck twice while Constantin Staib (3rd minute), Ole Thies Prinz (54th minute), Timm Herzbruch (58th minute) and Lukas Windfeder (63rd minute) were the other goal scorers for Germany. Japan’s lone goal came late in the match from the stick of Ryo Ozawa (67th minute).