Netherlands, India top pools at Champions Trophy
Both teams finished with two wins and a draw and with a plus-three goal differential.
MELBOURNE: The Netherlands held on after leading 3-0 at halftime to beat Belgium 5-4, edging four-time defending champion Australia for top place in Pool B in Champions Trophy field hockey on Tuesday.
The Olympic silver medalists clung to first place in the four-team pool when Australia were able to beat Pakistan only 1-0 in the final match of the group stage.
Both teams finished with two wins and a draw and with a plus-three goal differential but the Netherlands topped the pool by scoring more goals than Australia.
India finished at the top of Pool A, despite losing 3-2 to Olympic champion Germany in their final match. The Pool A leaders also finished level on points but India had a plus-one differential to Germany s minus-one.
The final standings after the pool round-robin mean the Netherlands will face New Zealand and Australia will play England in Thursday s quarterfinals. England and New Zealand drew 1-1 on Tuesday, finishing third and fourth respectively in their group.
India will play Belgium and Germany will meet Pakistan in the other quarterfinals after Pakistan finished third and Belgium last in Pool B.
The Netherlands scored three goals in the last 10 minutes of the first half to take a strong grip on Tuesday s clash with regular European rivals Belgium who were chasing their first point in the Champions Trophy.
Jeroen Herzberger and Tim Jenniskins scored from penalty corners on either side of a field goal by Quirijn Caspers.
The Netherlands seemed headed for a one-sided win but Tim Boon scored twice in the first four minutes of the second half to put Belgium back in the match.
Gauthier Boccard put the Netherlands ahead 4-2 before Belgium rallied again through Alexander Hendrickx as four goals were scored in the first six minutes of the half.
Valentin Verga sealed the Netherlands win with a penalty stroke two minutes from fulltime while Belgium added a consolation goal on the final whistle.
Kieran Govers scored the only goal with 20 minutes remaining to give Australia its narrow win over Pakistan. Govers goal was Australia s first in more than 115 minutes of tournament play after it had been held to a 0-0 draw in their previous match against the Netherlands.
Patrick Schmidt and Tobias Matania scored in a five-minute passage in the second half as Germany rallied from 2-1 down to beat India 3-2 while still settling for second in Pool A.
