FIH Hockey World League Final 2017: Belgium march to quarter-finals in style

The irrepressible Belgium team, the silver medallists of Rio 2016 hockey, marched to the quarterfinals of FIH Hockey World League Final 2017 in style, drubbing Netherlands by 3-0 in the final league game held at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.

Belgium was in attacking mode from the word go, never giving the Dutch even a slip to cave through their defence. Even though the first quarter went out to be goalless, the Belgian efforts brought fruits in the 19th minute, when Loick Luypaert, the star of the previous match, converted one of the first penalty corners for Belgium into a solid goal. A few seconds before the first half ended, Belgium earned another penalty corners, and Luypaert scored once again, giving Belgium the unassailable lead of 2-0.

Try what may, the Dutch team couldn't recover from this deficit, and struggled throughout the match, failing to find a single opportunity that could fill in the gap of 2-0. Like the previous match, the Belgian defence stood solid as a rock. Only two minutes into the third quarter, Belgium struck another goal into the Dutch goalpost, when star player Tom Boon converted another penalty corner into a goal, making the lead 3-0.

The final 28 minutes were devoted to keeping the score sheet intact, and with the final hooter, the Belgians ended the league stage on a high, winning all their matches, and maintaining a high penalty corner revision stage.

Also read: FIH Hockey World League Final 2017: India to take on Belgium in quarterfinal clash

With that, Belgium are the undisputed toppers of Pool A, and also have the highest number of individual goals to their credit, with Loick Luypaert ending on the top with 6 goals in his kitty. Now they will be facing the Indian team in the second quarter-final that will take place on Wednesday, while Netherlands, who have finished at the bottom of the table, will face Pool B topper Germany on the evening of 7th December.