With the league phase of the Rabobank World Cup in the Netherlands drawing to a close, Australian men are table toppers in Group A. They were joined by England, who met Belgium on Monday’s must-win last league game. Australia’s last league encounter was with India, in which they stamped their superiority in men’s hockey by scoring a resounding victory. While England will take on the Group B leaders, Netherlands in the semifinals, Australia’s opponents will be known only after other Group B league matches are completed on Tuesday. Unfortunate Indians will have to remain content with lower placings; when they play either Korea or South Africa for the 9th/10th places. In women’s Group A, Netherlands top the table with Australia right behind, while USA and Argentina will finish 1 & 2 in Group B, unless the Chinese women pull off any unlikely miracle.
Around this time, Australia’s mercurial captain Mark Knowles collided with an India defender and took a hit on his head. He had to be taken off the field on a stretcher to the great disappointment of the coach Ric Charlesworth. At half time Australians led 4-0, having scored all their goals in the relatively early part of the first half. With couple of other Australian players suffering injuries, the second half didn’t have much action. Indian forwards, however, did their best to find the target. On two occasions, the attempts were thwarted by Australia’s goalkeepers. First it was Andrew Charter, who brilliantly blocked a mighty heave from Yuvraj Walmiki and when Australia replaced the keeper, Dharamveer welcomed the new man, Tyler Lovell with a stinging shot.
The match between the Englishmen and the Belgians went to wire. To enter the semifinal England needed a win, while just a draw would have been adequate for Belgium. It was a thriller that was decided in the last few minutes of the match. Despite a fine start from England, it was Belgium, who scored first, when Simon Gougnard created a brilliant opportunity by running round England defenders and finding Thomas Briels on the right spot in the 13th minute. Briels drove past George Pinner, without any errors. In the 19th minute, however, Nick Catlin equalized for England and they took a vital 2-1 lead in the 39th minute, when Ashley Jackson scored from a pass from Catlin. The Englishmen made an error of trying to preserve their slender lead but they suffered for such attitude, when Belgium’s Tanguy Cosyns converted a penalty corner in the 63rd minute. The 2-2 score suited Belgium perfectly but they needed to ensure that England didn’t score again. It was different for England since they needed a win. England got lucky in the 66th minute, when Lain Lewers calmly slotted the ball into the Belgian goal from a penalty corner.
In other league matches played on June 8, German men defeated New-Zealand 5-3 and Argentinian men routed Korea 5-0. In the women’s Group A matches, US beat Germany 4-1, Argentina defeated England 2-1 and China beat South Africa 4-3. On June 9, Australian and New-Zealand women drew their game 0-0, Spain’s men team defeated Malaysia 5-2; Dutchwomen overpowered Korea 3-0 and Japanese women drew with Belgium 2-2.