England men routed Belgium by 8-2 to qualify for next year's World Cup in India.
England started in slow time and let the Belgians in for an early lead through Jerome Dekeyser after just five minutes.
A minute later and England had the first of six first half penalty corners, but Ashley Jackson's shot was saved by the goalkeeper. Two more corners went the same way, but finally half way through the first half England equalised through a Jackson corner, this time low along the ground. Five minutes later, with Jackson off the pitch, Richard Mantell stepped up to hit the second for England, again getting the better of the keeper with another ball along the ground. Jackson doubled his tally to take the score to 3-1, again from the corner, but this time high into the top of the net. England rounded off the first half with a goal from Jonty Clarke, fed by captain Barry Middleton. There was a last minute penalty corner chance for the Belgians and keeper James Fair made several saves before captain Maxime Luycx forced the ball home to make it 4-2 and keep in interesting as one reporter said!
England came out strong in the second half and within two minutes of the restart were 5-2 up through another goal from Jackson, this time from a quickly taken free hit he drove in and blasted the ball home from the edge of the circle. More chances ensued and the Belgian goalkeeper was called on to clear the ball after Iain Mackay hit the post. England had two penalty corners and Jackson was again off the pitch for the second of these. Mantell\s shot was parried by the keeper but Richard Alexander following up forced the ball in for a 6-2 lead.
With ten minutes to go James Tindall got on the score sheet, his shot/cross from the left deflecting off a Belgian stick to make it 7-2. And two minutes from time Jonty Clarke (pictured) rounded off England's win when presented with the ball at the top of the circle he shot past the keeper to make a final score of 8-2.
Germany need to beat Austria in the second game of the day by 11 clear goals to top the group so England are likely to meet the Netherlands in Friday's semi-final match, assuming they get past the French in the last game of the day.
