Dutch skipper plays down loss

“Our goal today was to make the semifinals and we made it. We are happy with a semifinal place. A draw would have been better, but we missed quite a few chances in the end and the Koreans played quite well,” he said, after the 1-2 loss at the World Cup on Tuesday.

Korea have had the Dutchmen’s number quite a few times but De Nooijer didn’t read too much into those losses. “The thing is, they convert most of their chances while we miss quite a few.

“That has been the case in our recent matches, including the last Champions Trophy (where they lost twice to the Koreans).”

De Nooijer said the loss won’t affect his team in the semifi

nal. “You can’t win every match. The semifinal is a different game and we will be ready for it.”

Meanwhile, Germany’s captain Max Muller said there was room for improvement after defeating New Zealand to secure their semifinal berth.

“I am not hundred percent happy with our performance. We could have done better but our penalty corners were quite good today and I am happy about that. We have worked very hard on our penalty corners and that is showing.”

The German captain was particularly displeased by the fact that they allowed New Zealand to come back after taking a 3-0 lead.

“It is a mental thing. After scoring three goals, we thought the match was safe and our performance went down. But we were always confident of turning things around and I was telling the boys to step up their performance,” said Muller. “The important thing is we are a tight unit as a team. That is a big plus for us,” he said.