Belgian men march into quarterfinals with exceptional win over Australia

A number of groups secured their tickets to the quarterfinals on the third day of motion on the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup in Poreč, Croatia on Wednesday.

Austria’s males, who secured their playoff spot a day earlier, might be joined by Belgium, Iran, and Germany, whereas within the girls’s occasion Germany, Namibia and Belgium superior to affix Czechia within the last eight.

The Belgian males made certain of their place with an emphatic 7-3 win over Australia. It was joint participant of the match performances from skipper Phillippe Simar, who bagged all seven objectives, and goalkeeper Romain Henet who produced three sensible saves, that denied Australia any momentum within the match. Simar stated afterwards: “That was a prime efficiency with seven objectives towards the principle crew of the pool, so yeah, I pushed objectives however Romain had a very good sport, he saved three or 4 actually, actually good saves at good moments in order that’s an important factor right now.”

Belgium’s girls adopted their males into the quarterfinals after a 1-1 draw with the US. A beaming Margaux Coudron was named participant of the match and stated: “The USA is mostly a robust crew so we knew it wasn’t simple, however we managed the sport. It was not the nicest sport to observe as a result of it was sluggish however we knew {that a} draw was sufficient so we saved calm.”

Iran’s males, bronze medallists in 2023, progressed after prevailing 3-0 of their tough conflict with Malaysia. “All the crew and all the gamers labored onerous for this sport. This sport was crucial for us and I give this honour to our gamers,” stated participant of the match Sajjad Mamizadeh afterwards.

The German males superior with an 8-2 win in a heated encounter towards Argentina. The Argentinians desperately needed a win to keep away from the permutations concerned in figuring out the 2 non-automatic locations within the quarterfinals and located themselves trailing by only one objective in the direction of the tip of the third quarter.

Issues fell aside shortly although as they conceded two penalty strokes and a smooth objective from a poor go throughout the goalmouth. Participant of the match Ben Hasbach did a lot of the injury together with his 5 objectives for Germany and stated afterwards: “We began very unhealthy, however we got here within the second half superb into the sport, we scored our objectives, and we’re pleased to be within the quarterfinals with three wins.”

In the meantime, there was one other heavy defeat for Australia as Germany’s girls cruised to a 7-0 win over the crew ranked one place above them on this planet. The victory noticed the Germans reserving their quarterfinal spot with skipper Fenja Poppa named the participant of the match. “I’m actually pleased that we gained the second sport. We scored lots of objectives and I’m actually pleased with the crew,” she stated.

The Namibian girls additionally advance after trouncing New Zealand 7-0, so recording their first ever back-to-back wins at an FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup. Thrilled participant of the match Kiana-Ché Cormack stated afterwards: “It actually feels superb. I imply, we’ve ticked our first field, certainly one of our objectives was to come back prime two in our pool, and so now we are able to simply go and play towards Germany.”

In different motion, already-qualified Czechia’s girls prolonged their unbeaten document, ending the pool stage with a snug 4-1 win over hosts Croatia whereas Namibia’s males stay in competition for a quarterfinal place after a robust end of their 6-3 win over Trinidad and Tobago.

The US girls can solely watch the permutations play out on Thursday to see whether or not they’ll advance.

5 February 2025 Outcomes

Males

Consequence: Match 11 (M)

Namibia 6 – 3 Trinidad & Tobago

Participant of the match: Pieter Jacobs (NAM)

Umpires: Ben Goentgen (GER), Kristy Robertson (AUS)

Consequence: Match 12 (M)

Australia 3 – 7 Belgium

Participant of the match: Romain Henet & Philippe Simar (BEL)

Umpires: Ana Ortega (ESP), Pieter Hembrecht (NED)

Consequence: Match 13 (M)