MCT: Favourites make impressive start in Lahore
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| International |
December 4, 2004
IOL
By Kuldip Lal
Lahore - The Netherlands, Spain and hosts Pakistan showed no signs of opening-day blues as they breezed through the start of the men's Champions Trophy field hockey here on Saturday.
The Dutch, seeking their third successive title, overcame a 2-2 deadlock against New Zealand to unleash three goals before the final whistle for an emphatic 5-2 win.
Spain, held goalless by India till the 43rd minute, struck four times in the last 25 minutes to record a convincing 4-0 victory.
And Pakistan, cheered by about 25 000 home fans at the National Hockey Stadium, rode on the amazing striking abilities of Sohail Abbas to carve out a 3-1 win over Germany's second-string side.
Abbas, the most feared penalty corner exponent in the game, scored one goal and set up another to take his world record tally to 269 goals in 219 matches.
Rehan Butt and Kashif Jawad added to Pakistan's tally while Germany, fielding just two Olympians, earned a consolation goal through Jan-Marco Montag.
"Maybe we were a bit slow at the start but got there in the end," said Pakistan's Dutch coach Roelant Oltmans. "The win will increase the confidence of the team for the remaining matches."
Each team plays the other once in the round-robin league with the top two advancing to the final on December 12.
The Netherlands' chief penalty corner specialist Taeke Taekema led the way against the Kiwis, scoring the first goal in the 25th minute and the fourth in the 51st.
Ronald Brouwer, Rob Reckers and Karel Klaver were the other scorers for the Dutch, who are seeking a Champions Trophy hat-trick as consolation for their loss in the Athens Olympics final to Australia.
New Zealand, who finished sixth at Athens, drew level twice through Bevan Hari and Ryan Archibald before crumbling in the last quarter.
"It is always good to start a tournament with a win," said Dutch coach Terry Walsh. It took time to settle down but I thought we played very well in the second half."
Spain toyed with India, who came into the elite tournament after Olympic champions Australia pulled out due to security concerns based on a travel advisory by the Australian government.
Kept at bay by the Indian defence till eight minutes of the second half, the Spaniards launched a late blitz to score four goals.
Alex Fabregas sparked the goal spree in the 43rd minute by netting a pass from the right from his namesake Francisco Fabregas.
India were reduced to 10 men for seven minutes when defender Sandeep Singh was shown the yellow card for a hard tackle on Sergi Enrique.
It gave space to Spain to raid the Indian goal and Eduard Arbos scored the second goal in the 60th minute with a solo run down the centre.
Spain scored two more goals in as many minutes as Santiago Freixa pushed in a penalty stroke and veteran captain Juan Escarre found the net from a narrow angle on the right.
India were disallowed a goal in the second session when the umpires ruled the ball had flown dangerously over the goalkeeper's shoulder.
But the final scoreline was a fair indication of Spain's superiority.
"The best thing was that we did now allow India to settle down and did not concede a single penalty corner," said Spain's Dutch coach Maurits Hendriks. We played with a lot of passion."
Indian captain Dilip Tirkey blamed missed chances for his team's defeat.
"Not being able to score goals is an old habit with us and obviously it will not go away easily," the defender said. "We made silly mistakes out there. There is no point blaming umpires if we can't get our act right."
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