JOIN USThe Netherlands upstaged World No 1 Germany 2-1 in the quarterfinals of the Hero Hockey World League Final here on Wednesday.
Germany had been far from best in the tournament in the absence of some of their key players. In the league stage, they had lost to World No 4 England 1-2 and were held to 3-3 draw by World No 10 India.
Against Netherlands, they were down a goal when the match was just a minute old. Mink van der Weerden flicked home to convert a penalty corner and Olympic Champions struggled to equalise under pressure.
The Dutch doubled the lead within five minutes through Seve van Ass (6th) and entered the interval leading 2-0.
The second half, though, was intensely fought. Germany upped the ante and were rewarded instantly when Florian Fuchs sent across a perfect pass to captain Oliver Korn, who slammed home in the 38th minute. But there were no further slip ups from Olympic silver medallists and they held the lead, against the wave of German attacks, till the final whistle.
“This is a great feeling. We had a tough last 10 minutes as the Germans really came at us and we were not as sharp as we should have been in the second half. Really we should have closed the game down earlier,” Netherlands' midfielder Robbert Kemperman said.
Germany’s coach Markus Weise said: “We were much better in the second half but one good half is not enough when you are playing the best in the world.”
Earlier, England became the first team to enter the quarterfinals when they ended the run of winless Belgium side with a 2-1 victory. A penalty corner conversion by Tim Carson (47th) in the second half was the solitary goal scored in the match.
In the third quarterfinal, New Zealand beat giant-killers Argentina via penalty shoot out after the two sides ended the 70 minutes locked 1-1.
DH News Service
Results (Quarterfinals): England: 1 (Tom Carson 47th) bt Belgium: 0
Netherlands: 2 (Mink van der Weeden 1st, Seve van Ass 38th) bt Germany: 1 (Oliver Korn 38th)
New Zealand: 4 (Kane Russell 8th) bt Argentina: 3(Matias Paredes 59th) via shoot-out. FT: 1-1.