Bhubaneswar: With four of the world’s top teams Australia, Germany, Netherlands, and Belgium reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup, the last four matches here on Friday are bound to be thrilling. There is a possibility.
World number one Australia will face world number four Germany in the first semi-final while defending champions Belgium will take on two-time runners-up the Netherlands in the second semi-final.
Among these four teams, three-time champions and world number three Netherlands made it to the semi-finals with a huge 5-1 win over South Korea. Germany has won the World Cup twice but has reached the semi-finals for the first time since 2010. His road to this point has not been easy. They had to play a crossover match after finishing second in their pool, while the other three semi-finalist teams made the quarter-finals directly.
In the quarter-finals against England, Germany was trailing 0–2 at one stage but scored two goals in the last two minutes to take the match to a penalty shootout, winning 4–3.
Australia, who won the bronze medal last time around, will start as favorites to win against Germany in the semi-finals. But the tournament also proved that Australia is not invincible and Germany’s chances cannot be underestimated in any way.
In the quarter-finals against Spain, Australia was trailing 0-2 at one stage but came back strongly in the third quarter to win the match 4-3. Had the Spanish captain Marc Miralles converted the penalty stroke, the result of the match could have been different.
Australia has so far scored the most nine goals from penalty corners. He has scored a total of 24 goals so far and is second only to the Netherlands (27). Australia’s penalty corner specialists Jeremy Hayward and Blake Govers have been in fine form. Hayward has scored seven goals so far while Gowers has scored five.
Germany will rely heavily on five-goal scorer Nicklas Wellen, along with captain Matt Grambusch and his younger brother Tom. He will also be hoping for a good performance from penalty corner specialist Gonzalo Pellite. Australia, playing in the semi-finals for the 12th time in a row, will try to make it to the final for the fifth time in the last six World Cups.
In the second semi-final, the Netherlands will try to make it to the final for the third time in a row, but they will face a tough test in front of Belgium. Defending champions and reigning Olympic gold medalists in Belgium are in fine form. The Netherlands is yet to face a strong challenger in the tournament. He won all three of his pool stage matches and then the quarterfinals with ease.
The second semi-final will also see a contest between the oldest team and the youngest team in the tournament. Belgium has 11 players over the age of 30 while the Netherlands has eight under 25. Only two of its players are above 30 years of age.
