Hockey World Cup 2018: 3 reasons why Belgium won against South Africa

#2 Belgium drag-flickers have a field day

Belgium scored from three penalty corners

The second quarter was the moment when a struggling Belgium finally regained their form, and overcame the initial nightmare given by South Africa. A major credit for this goes to the penalty corner specialists of Belgium, who came to the rescue at the opportune moment.

It all began with Alexander Hendrickx's equalizer in the 14th minute, which destroyed South Africa's chances of creating another upset. Despite being handed a green card for his over aggression in the 23rd minute, Alexander had created a breakthrough that was capitalized by Belgium with both hands.

Simon Gougnard, who had denied India a crucial win in their second league match, capitalized on the chances created by the penalty corners specialists to take the lead for Belgium in the 18th minute.

By the time Hendrickx scored another goal for Belgium, the writing was on the wall. Interestingly, 3 of the 5 goals scored by Belgium came from penalty corners, with Loick Luypaert scoring the other goal from penalty corner.