Champions Trophy: Dutch hammering seals Pakistan-India playoff
Greenshirts thrashed 5-2 in semi; to take on arch-rivals in bronze-medal match today.
MELBOURNE:
Pakistan were outclassed 5-2 by the Netherlands in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy yesterday, giving the Dutch the chance to win the tournament for the first time in six years.
The third-ranked Dutch will play defending champions Australia in the final today, after the home side comfortably defeated India 3-0. Pakistan’s loss has sealed a bronze-medal playoff against India that takes place at 7.30am PST today.
The Netherlands were on top throughout and led 3-1 at halftime before scoring twice more in the second half for an emphatic win. The result was a disappointment for Pakistan but they must respond quickly. Pakistan’s Shakeel Abbasi, who scored both goals in the team’s quarter-final win over Germany, was disappointed but hopeful of an improved show against India.
“We are still in the medal race so we will try our best,” said Abbasi. “They played well but in the start we had a few chances. We will try our best because it is a medal match and a medal match is always a good match.”
Striker Billy Bakker said the Dutch were pleased with their progress throughout the tournament.
“We have a good team and before we came to Melbourne we had a goal to play in the final, minimum, and hopefully to take the gold back to the Netherlands,” said Bakker before adding that he expected a tough outing in the final against the Australians, who would be aiming to win the title for a record fifth time in succession.
“There will be no more open spaces like we had today in the second half against Australia. It will be two teams who will be playing at high speed.”
The Dutch began in terrific form, with Pakistan looking shell-shocked.
It was not long until the Dutch confirmed their dominance with Bakker scoring the first of his two goals only two minutes into the match. Having been given far too much space into their circle, the Netherlands continued to attack with Severiano van Ass making it 2-0 at the 20 minute mark.
Pakistan were given a gift minutes later when an own goal was scored off the stick of Netherlands defender Bob de Voogd. However a second Bakker goal gave them the momentum before half time with a commanding 3-1 lead. The Dutch powered on in the second half with two more goals before Abbasi scored a late consolation goal.
In the earlier qualification matches, Belgium beat England 4-0 for their first ever Champions Trophy win, while Germany held off a determined New Zealand to win 6-4.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2012.
Pakistan were outclassed 5-2 by the Netherlands in the first semi-final of the Champions Trophy yesterday, giving the Dutch the chance to win the tournament for the first time in six years.
The third-ranked Dutch will play defending champions Australia in the final today, after the home side comfortably defeated India 3-0. Pakistan’s loss has sealed a bronze-medal playoff against India that takes place at 7.30am PST today.
The Netherlands were on top throughout and led 3-1 at halftime before scoring twice more in the second half for an emphatic win. The result was a disappointment for Pakistan but they must respond quickly. Pakistan’s Shakeel Abbasi, who scored both goals in the team’s quarter-final win over Germany, was disappointed but hopeful of an improved show against India.
“We are still in the medal race so we will try our best,” said Abbasi. “They played well but in the start we had a few chances. We will try our best because it is a medal match and a medal match is always a good match.”
Striker Billy Bakker said the Dutch were pleased with their progress throughout the tournament.
“We have a good team and before we came to Melbourne we had a goal to play in the final, minimum, and hopefully to take the gold back to the Netherlands,” said Bakker before adding that he expected a tough outing in the final against the Australians, who would be aiming to win the title for a record fifth time in succession.
“There will be no more open spaces like we had today in the second half against Australia. It will be two teams who will be playing at high speed.”
The Dutch began in terrific form, with Pakistan looking shell-shocked.
It was not long until the Dutch confirmed their dominance with Bakker scoring the first of his two goals only two minutes into the match. Having been given far too much space into their circle, the Netherlands continued to attack with Severiano van Ass making it 2-0 at the 20 minute mark.
Pakistan were given a gift minutes later when an own goal was scored off the stick of Netherlands defender Bob de Voogd. However a second Bakker goal gave them the momentum before half time with a commanding 3-1 lead. The Dutch powered on in the second half with two more goals before Abbasi scored a late consolation goal.
In the earlier qualification matches, Belgium beat England 4-0 for their first ever Champions Trophy win, while Germany held off a determined New Zealand to win 6-4.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 9th, 2012.