19 January, 2023 Day 6 of FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 brought the conclusion of the group stage action from Pool C and Pool D, as Netherlands and England topped their groups, booking their quarterfinals spots, while Malaysia, New Zealand, India and Spain now move on to the crossovers. Malaysia and New Zealand played the first game with Malaysia needing a win to overtake New Zealand for the second spot in the group, while New Zealand just needed a draw to stay ahead of Malaysia on goal difference. What unfolded was an enthralling contest with Malaysia grabbing the first two goals of the game, but the Kiwis responded with two quickfire goals in the 4th quarter to level the scores. Malaysia had the last laugh however, scoring with 2 minutes left on the clock to seal the win and grab the second spot in Pool C, with New Zealand finishing 3rd. Netherlands were up next against Chile who had been resilient in their first two games of the tournament. Netherlands came into the game in a menacing mood and scored 14 past the Chilean defence to set a new record for the biggest margin of victory in an FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup. Action then moved over to Pool D as Spain and England went up in game 1 with all 4 spots in the group undecided. Spain started the game brightly, but failed to find their scoring touch, while England made the best of their opportunities, scoring twice before the half. The second half followed a similar pattern, as Spain’s scoring touch completely deserted them, while the English defence withstood all the pressure and launched counter-attacks that helped add 2 more goals in the second half for an emphatic 4-0 win. The final match of the day was between hosts India, playing their first match in Bhubaneswar against the plucky Welsh team that had nothing to lose. India made a great start to the game holding more than 80% possession in the first half, but their finishing wasn’t the best as they were up by two goals until the 43rd minute when Wales found a way back, scoring twice in two minutes to end quarter three on level terms. Akashdeep who had scored India’s second, put them ahead again at the start of the 4th quarter and Harmanpreet added his first goal in the final minute to carry India to a win and 2nd position in Pool D. Match 1: Malaysia vs New Zealand 3-2 New Zealand started the game stronger and nearly got themselves an early goal with a 3 on 1 attack in the Malaysian circle, but Kingstone’s shot was rather tame in the end. Kane Russell and Razie Rahim were off target from the first penalty corners for both sides as the game started to open up. Malaysia were the first to score as Faizal Saari got a slight touch on a ball into the circle that took it past an onrushing Dixon giving Malaysia a crucial lead. Malaysia had fewer circle penetrations by half time, but they had the better chances to score the second goal of the game through Shello Silverius and Marhan Jalil, with both missing great chances, to keep the score at 1-0 at the break. Second half followed the same pattern as New Zealand kept possession and territory but were well kept out by the Malaysian deep defence, while everytime Malaysia went into attack, they created great scoring opportunities. They added the second goal from their 6th penalty corner as Razie Rahim buried a low drag flick into the bottom left corner of the goal. The final quarter provided pulsating hockey as New Zealand scored twice early in the quarter through Phillips and Lane to temporarily move into the 2nd place on the Pool table, but Malaysia grabbed the lead back with less than 3 minutes left, as Faizal Saari scored his second of the game to get Malaysia the 3 points and 2nd place in Pool C. Marhan Jalil was awarded player of the match for his great performance in the Malaysian defence. Double goalscorer Faizal Saari said after the match: “It was a good team performance as we stuck to our strategies. We will enjoy this moment and this win first and then we will think about the cross-overs.” Match 2: Netherlands vs Chile 14-0  Netherlands came into the final pool game with 2 near perfect wins, while Chile came in with 2 closely fought contests where they ended up on the losing side. On paper it was an uphill task for Chile to take much from the game and the first half proved that as the Dutch played incredible attacking hockey to score five times in the first half, with Vilder, Thijs and Brinkman scoring once, while Jansen added two from penalty corners. The second half saw Netherlands turn up the pressure to 100 as they scored 6 goals in the 3rd quarter and 3 more in the final quarter. In the process Netherlands broke the record for the biggest win in the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup history, previously held by Australia, when they scored 12 unanswered goals against South Africa in the 2010 Men’s World Cup. For the Dutch, Jip Janssen top scored with 4 penalty corner goals, with captain Thierry Brinkman also grabbing a hattrick in the 59th minute. In total, 8 Dutch players got themselves on the scoresheet as they moved into the quarterfinals in red hot form! Jip Janssen was awarded player of the match and said: “I didn’t know we had broken the world record, so that is good to know. It was a great team performance overall and in terms of penalty corners it’s good to get the rhythm going and not just for me but for the injectors and stoppers as well.” Match 3: Spain vs England 0-4 Spain and England came into the encounter with 3 and 4 points respectively with all positions from 1-4 undecided

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Day 4 of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup promised close contests as teams started to get a clearer picture of the results they needed to reach the targets they had set for the pool stages. Malaysia vs Chile in Pool C and France vs South Africa in Pool A were crucial contests in terms of avoiding a 4th place finish, which rules teams out of the quarterfinals contention, with all 4 teams having lost their first matches at the World Cup. Malaysia were the first team to get on the board today, coming back from a goal down twice to beat Chile 3-2. France would replicate them later in the day winning another close contest against South Africa to register their first points in Pool A. In the battle of the unbeaten teams, Netherlands made light work of New Zealand beating them 4-0, making it two wins in two, to get to 6 points and now need just a draw in their final game against Chile to confirm their spot at the top of Pool C and earn a direct entry into the quarterfinals. In Pool A, Argentina and Australia played a highly entertaining draw where the momentum swung from one side to the other. Australia were down 3-2 with just 2 minutes remaining, but Blake Govers, returning from injury, stepped up when it mattered and scored a fantastic goal to keep Australia at the top of the pool, thanks to their vastly superior goal difference. Match 1: Malaysia vs Chile 3-2 Malaysia and Chile came into the opening contest of day 4 knowing it was crucial to get a win, with both teams having faced losses in their opening encounters against Netherlands and New Zealand respectively. Both teams played the contest with an open attacking flair that they had been unable to express in their opening contests. Chile were the first to score from a penalty corner as Juan Amoroso’s drag flick went through the rushing Malaysian defenders and thumped the backboard. Malaysia then struck back as Razie Rahim scored from a penalty stroke. But Chile got their lead back before the half through a smashing reverse shot by Martin Rodriguez. Malaysia had their work cut out if they wanted to win the game in the second half, but they got their act together quickly, scoring twice in the third quarter. Ashran Hamsani got the leveller, acrobatically deflecting a high ball from over his head, into the goal. Norsyafiq Sumantri then put Malaysia in the lead, smartly passing the ball under the keeper on the reverse, after a Malaysian penalty corner attempt was deflected by the first rusher. Chile threatened to pull level in the very last second as they earned a penalty corner, but two massive saves from Malaysian keeper Hafizuddin Othman got Malaysia the win and all 3 points! Norsyafiq Sumantri was awarded the player of the match for scoring the decisive goal for Malaysia. Captain Marhan Jalil speaking after his team’s win said: “We are happy with the win. It wasn’t the perfect game, we could have played much better. But it’s 3 points and that was what we needed today.” Match 2: New Zealand vs Netherlands 0-4  Netherlands were handed a big break inside the first 5 minutes as a poor backward pass from Kane Russell was easily intercepted by Tjep Hoedemakers who squared up the ball to captain Thierry Brinkman, who had just the keeper to beat, and his powerful shot could not be stopped. Netherlands added another goal in the first quarter as New Zealand substituted their keeper for an outfield player in a surprising move, which allowed Netherlands to attack the circle and find Koen Bijen who had an open goal to tap the ball into. Thierry Brinkman then added a second goal before the half as a smart deflection at the top of the circle managed to sneak past the Kiwi keeper who was brought back on in the second quarter. New Zealand were much more composed in defence in the second half, making it a fairly even battle. But the Netherlands would not be denied. They first had the ball in the back of the goal in the final minute of quarter 3, but it was taken away for a foul in the build up. Netherlands would not be denied for long though as Tjep Hoedemakers who was at his industrious best, got on the end of a cross by captain Brinkman to add a 4th goal in the final quarter and make it 6 points out of 6 for them. Dutch captain Thierry Brinkman was awarded player of the match and said: “Happy to get 4 field goals today. We probably could have scored more to be honest, but happy overall with two wins in two.” Match 3: France vs South Africa 2-1 France and South Africa have competed multiple times over the past year in the FIH Hockey Pro League as well as the recently concluded FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup. In the Pro League, it was France who got the better of South Africa twice, while South Africa gained the upper hand in the Nations Cup. With both teams facing opening day losses to Argentina and Australia, the head-to-head encounter was crucial for them both to try and win in order to avoid the bottom spot and try to make it to the quarterfinals or the crossovers. Both teams produced attacking hockey as most fans expected, but goals in the first half came through penalty corners for both sides. Victor Charlet was the first to score with a low flick that snuck in between the keeper and the post defender. Connor Beauchamp equalised for South Africa in the 15th minute with an absolute ripper of a drag flick that went over the head of the French keeper and into the goal. The second half followed a similar pattern, but it was Victor Charlet once again who made the difference, perfectly placing a low drag

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Day 2 of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup 2023 continued to thrill packed crowds in Bhubaneswar and Rourkela as New Zealand, Netherlands, Belgium and Germany earned comfortable victories, as Pools B and C got underway. New Zealand took on Chile in the first contest of the day in Rourkela. Early nerves from the Chilean defence allowed the Kiwis to grab the initiative and get 3 first half goals, but Chile were resurgent in the second half and grabbed their first ever goal in the FIH Men’s World Cup with a beautiful counter-attacking move to earn a well-deserved consolation goal. It was the turn of the European giants next as each one of Netherlands, Belgium and Germany faced stiff opposition from Malaysia, Korea and Japan respectively, but stepped up their game in the second halves to register comfortable wins by big margins by full times. Netherlands secured a 4-0 win against Malaysia in the second game in Rourkela. It was then Pool B action in Bhubaneswar where Belgium scored 5 second half goals to win 5-0 against Korea, before Germany repeated the same pattern, scoring 3 goals in the second half against Japan to run away 3-0 winners. Match 1: New Zealand vs Chile 3-1 New Zealand were quick out of the gates applying heavy pressure inside the Chile half. Chile relied on counter attacks, looking for runners on the wings to find space behind the Kiwi backline. Playing in their first ever World Cup game, the Chilean backline played tentatively and paid the price in the first half as Sam Lane and Sam Hiha (twice) capitalised on individual errors to put New Zealand up 3-0 inside 20 minutes. Chile were much more composed in defence in the second half and that allowed them to launch long aerial balls behind the New Zealand defence. One such ball found Ignacio Contardo who weaved into the circle, beating 3 Kiwi defenders, before taking the ball past the keeper and finishing on the reverse to give Chile their first ever goal in the Men’s World Cup! The goal proved to be a consolation but it was a good reward for Chile who shook their early nervousness and gave a great account of themselves in the second half. Chile keeper Adrian Henriquez was particularly terrific for them, pulling multiple saves to keep New Zealand out in the entire second half. Sam Ward who opened the scoring was awarded player of the match and said: “Chile are a tough team to play against. We knew it would be a good game, so it is good to get the first win. Looking forward to the next game here.” Match 2: Netherlands vs Malaysia 4-0  The start to the game looked like it could be a long day for Netherlands as the Malaysian defence frustrated the Dutch attackers, comfortably keeping them out of dangerous positions. But an error in the 20th minute by the defence gave Netherlands a half chance and they showed why they are so dangerous as Thijs van Dam pounced on the loose ball and put it away to open the scoring for Netherlands. The Dutch added a second goal before the half as Jip Janssen who had seen a penalty corner saved earlier in the half, put a penalty stroke away in the 24th minute to double his team’s lead. Netherlands added two more goals through Teun Beins and Jorrit Croon, in the fourth quarter after Malaysia had spent a good part of the third quarter on the attack trying to score a goal that would let them back into the game. The final scoreline reflected a comfortable 4-0 win for Netherlands, but Malaysia had their moments in the game for large portions, primarily in the 1st and 3rd quarters. Jorrit Croon, scorer of the beautiful 4th Dutch goal was awarded player of the match and said: “It is a great feeling playing in this stadium in front of this packed crowd. It’s a good win to start the tournament but we can’t get carried away, its just one game and its a long tournament.” Match 3: Belgium vs Korea 5-0 Belgium vs Korea promised to be a thriller with the Olympic and World Champions going head-to-head against Korea who were in brilliant form during the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup that took place in December 2022. Korea gave a great account of themselves in the first half, going toe to toe with Belgium in attack while also keeping the Belgian attack at bay to go into the half at 0-0. Belgium scored in the first minute of the second half with Alexander Hendrickx burying his third penalty corner attempt of the day. The first goal opened the floodgates for Belgium and they tacked on 4 more goals in the final 16 minutes of the game to earn a comfortable win. Victor Wegnez was awarded the player of the match and said: “It was a great team effort. I collect the player of the match, but it’s a team game and we played really well as a team to get this win, which we are very happy with.” Match 4: Germany vs Japan 3-0  Germany vs Japan followed a similar pattern to the game that preceded it as the first half saw Japan frustrate the 2-time champions and match them step for step, but a drop in intensity in the second half gave the German’s a foot in the door and they made full use of the opportunity to grab the goals and take all 3 points. Gonzalo Peillat was stopped twice in the first half from the penalty corners, so Germany tried an intricate variation in the second half and it unlocked the Japanese defence with captain Mats Grambusch getting the final touch. Germany scored a second on a brilliant counter as a pass by Müller from his own half found Rühr behind the Japanese defence, and he rounded the keeper and put the ball in the back of the

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