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Each of the teams in Pool A, B, and C are done and dusted with all three of their pool stage matches.
Argentina moved on to the quarterfinals from Pool A while France and New Zealand made it to the crossovers. Spain had to book their tickets early back home.
Australia won all three of their matches to get nine points on board and storm into the quarterfinals in emphatic fashion from Pool B.
England and World Cup debutants China were the two teams to qualify to the crossovers from this Pool while Ireland were eliminated.
Pool C witnessed the hosts India moving to the quarterfinals as they had two wins and a draw (seven points -- same as Belgium but Men in Blue ahead on goal difference). Belgium and Canada also progressed to the crossovers. South Africa did not get the results in their favour and were eliminated.
Group D teams will be rearing to play their respective third matches as here is when things get interesting. Netherlands will be facing a resilient Pakistani unit in the 2nd match on the day.
The encounter holds paramount importance to both teams in the context of positioning in the Group.
The second placed team in Pool D will play their crossover match against Canada -- which is the third-placed team in Pool C.
The third-placed team in Pool D will have to rub shoulders with the mighty Belgians (2nd placed team of Pool C) in the crossover match.
Any team would want to avoid facing the Rio Olympics silver medalists. Hence, both Netherlands and Pakistan will be aiming for the second spot (*assuming Malaysia do not pull off an upset against Germany).
The Dutch have three points on board as they thrashed Malaysia 7-0 but Germany got the better of them so they had one win and a loss.
Pakistan have one point on board after a 1-1 draw against Malaysia and a slim 0-1 loss to Germany.
Hence, both Pakistan and the Netherlands will be looking to get three points from the match which means the spectators at the Kalinga stadium can get ready to witness some scintillating action.
Here is all you need to know about the upcoming match between Netherlands and Pakistan:
Event: Men's Hockey World Cup 2018
Venue: Bhubaneswar, India
Date: 9 December 2018
Time: 7:00 pm Indian Standard Time (IST)
Telecast
India: Star Sports, Star Sports HD
UK: BT Sport
Australia: Fox Sports
Spain: Eurosport
New Zealand: Sky Sports (NZ)
Argentina: ESPN
South Africa: SuperSport
Live Streaming: Hotstar, FIH Official Youtube Channel
Live Updates: Sportskeeda
Prediction
If we go as per the FIH World Rankings, then the Netherlands are ranked fourth while Pakistan are 13th. Two of the previous three meetings between the two sides have ended in favour of Netherlands while 1 match was won by Pakistan.
However, overall -- in the 11 matches in World Cups -- The Green Machines won 6 matches, the Dutch were on top in three, while two ended in draws.
However, going by how things are going in the current edition of the World Cup, the match between Pakistan and Netherlands is likely to end in favour of Max Caldas' men -- albeit by a slender margin.
Score Prediction: Netherlands 2 - 1 Pakistan
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