The men’s semi-final spots remain up for grabs at the FIH World Cup while Argentina advance in the women’s competition thanks to their impressive victory over Spain.
On the men’s side, the Netherlands do have one foot in the semi-finals after they produced a strong 3-1 win over India with Thijs van Dam’s late goal sealing the deal.
After a scoreless first half, Duco Telgenkamp gave them a third quarter lead and they looked to be out of sight when Tjep Hoedemakers made it two with nine minutes left.
Harmanpreet Singh’s corner halved the gap soon after but van Dam lifted the ball over the advancing goalkeeper for a tidy third.
It lifts them to six points, three clear of England and Argentina for whom the latter also won 3-1 with Toni Domene scoring a hat trick.
The South American side were on top for much of the game and went ahead from their third corner in the 26th minute. Domene fired in a rasping reverse stick finish for 2-0 in Q3 but Sam Hooper’s corner flick gave England a lifeline in the final quarter.
Domene, however, settled the game in the last few minutes to keep their medal hopes alive going into their last group game against England.
In the classification matches, Wales lost 7-2 to New Zealand while Pakistan beat Japan 4-3.
Belgium stormed into contention for the women’s semi-final spots as they put in a sparkling performance to eliminate Germany 3-1 in Wavre.
Delphine Marien put them in front in the first half before Lisa Nolte equalised soon after the big break.
But a Stephanie Vanden Borre penalty corner and a cracking effort from Charlotte Englebert swung the momentum in favour of the Red Panthers, lifting them to four points.
Three first quarter goals saw Argentina race away from the challenge of Spain and confirm their place in the final four with a game still to play.
Agustina Gorzelany and Juana Castellaro both scored in the first three minutes and Gorzelany’s next one made it 3-0 which led to a comfortable victory.
Spain will now need to beat Germany and then hope for an Argentina win over Belgium to have a chance to advance to the semis.
Earlier, Scotland got their first win of the competition with a 2-1 success over Ireland. It leave both in contention for top 10 spot in Pool H which concludes on Monday with the Irish facing table-toppers USA and the Scots meet New Zealand.
** Picture: Ewoud Pahud de Mortanges/World Sport Pics
