England didn't start well against the Netherlands. Dan Fox scored an own goal off a Robbert Kemperman cross after just four minutes. Touted as the next Teun de Nooijer, Kemperman, like Ashley Jackson, has been nominated as one of the FIH Young Players of the Year, the winner of which will be announced on finals day.
The Netherlands continued to press and after 15 minutes scored again with a reverse stick shot from Rob Reckers which gave Nick Brothers in goal no chance.
England had their chances as they pressed forward and James Tindall almost made it 2-1. With eight minutes to go England won the only corner of the half and, with Jackson off the pitch, Richard Mantell stepped up to score with a low shot past Stockmann.
There was still time in the first half for fullback Woulter Jolie to surge forward and see his reverse stick shot hit the post and rebound to safety. 2-1 to the Netherlands.
Early in the second half both sides had chances but failed to take them. England won a penalty corner but Mantell's shot was saved by the goalkeeper and Tindall following up blasted a reverse stick shot on the volley, much like a Kevin Pietersen reverse sweep. But it was the Dutch who increased their lead through their youngster Kempermann six minutes later when he picked up a return pass and shot past Brothers.
With eleven minutes remaining England's pressure paid off when persistence from Robert Smith saw him continue across the top of the circle with the ball and then hit a reverse stick shot past the keeper to make it 3-2 (See our picture from Daniel Carson).
The Dutch pressed hard and Jeroen Hertzberger collided with the edge of the goalpost in an effort to get to the ball. Umpire Gentles called for the trainer immediately but Hertzberger was able to walk away, albeit rubbing his bruised ribs.
With eight minutes to go great individual skill by Jackson in the circle and a reverse shot brought a great save from the Dutch keeper. A minute later and England won their third penalty corner of the game. This time a shot by Jackson was saved by the keeper and the Dutch cleared. England tried hard to equalise but were frustrated by their own efforts as well as the Dutch defence.
Coach Jason Lee said at the press conference afterwards "I was frustrated that we started so slack" "We kept it close against a highly ranked team".
Regardless of the result against Korea on Saturday, England will now play Spain in the 5/6 match on Sunday. In the other classification matches it is still up for grabs who will be in the final and could depend on whether England can get a result against Korea.
……..
In the first game of the day, Korea came back from 5-1 down to earn a 5-5 draw with Spain.
Spain raced to a 3-0 lead after just ten minutes with two goals from Pau Quemada and one diving in from David Alegre, all from penalty corners. Korea managed to pull one back through the persistence of their number seven, Jong Ho Seo. But when Spain scored again before half-time through Eduard Tubau and then Quemada completed his hat-trick from the penalty corner midway through the second half to make it 5-1 it looked all over for Korea. However, unlucky for some, and in this case Spain, Korea's number thirteen had other ideas. In the space of seven minutes Hyun Woo Nam scored a hat-trick from three penalty corners. Korea pushed to level it up and were rewarded three minutes from time with a goal from Hyo Sik You. A fantastic game for the spectators to watch.
In the final game of the day, Germany took a surprise 3-0 lead over Australia by half-time with goals from Jan-Marco Montag, Matthias Witthaus and Christopher Wesley. Midway through the second half Luke Doerner walked the ball in from the penalty corner to make it 3-1 and despite further pressure from both sides this was the final score at the whistle. Germany are now level on points with Australia at the top of the pool.
