Netherlands knock out Kookaburras in sudden death; Belgium win 6-0
World No 4 Netherlands broke Australia's dream of clinching a hat-trick of World Cup titles, beating the two-time defending champions 4-3 in sudden death in a pulsating semi-final of men hockey's show-piece tournament here on Saturday.
The Dutch thus took a sweet revenge of their 1-6 loss to the Kookaburras in the summit clash of the 2014 World Cup at the Hague.
The match went into shoot-out after both Netherlands and Australia were locked 2-2 at the end of regulation 60 minutes.
Glenn Schuurman (9th minute) and Seeve van Ass (20th) scored for the Dutch before Tim Howard (45th) converted a penalty corner and Eddie Ockenden (60th) found the equaliser for Australia just 26 seconds from the final hooter.
In the shoot-off, Daniel Beale, Tom Craig and Jake Whetton scored for Australia while Jeroen Hertzberger, Van Ass and Thijs van Dam were on target for the Dutch to take the encounter into sudden death.
But it was not to be Australia's day, as Beale's attempt was saved by Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak after Hertberger scored to take Netherlands to their second consecutive World Cup final.
Netherlands will face Olympic Silver medallist Belgium in Sunday's summit clash after the Red Lions spanked England 6-0 in the other semi-final earlier in the day.
World No 1 Australia will look for a consolation Bronze medal when they take on England in the third-fourth place play-off match on Sunday.
After sitting back initially, the Dutchmen got into the groove slowly and had the first real scoring chance in the fourth minute through a penalty corner but Mnk van der Weerden's flick was kept away by Australia goalkeeper Andrew Charter.
Netherlands kept up the pressure on the Australian defence and minutes later took the lead through Schuurman, who scored from close range after being set up by Jonas de Gues' brilliant run down the right flank.
Van Ass doubled Netherlands' lead after his shot from right corner of the box went into the goal following a deflection from Australian Tim Howard's stick.
Trailing by two goals, the Australians came out with purpose after the change of ends as they attacked in numbers in search of breakthroughs.
Australia pulled a goal back just at the stroke of third quarter through Howard who scored from a penalty corner after their variation went wrong.
Netherlands goalkeeper Blaak had a wonderful match, inflicting brilliant saves now and then to deny the Australians.
But the Australians did not give up hope and fought till their last breath, which resulted in getting the equaliser just 26 seconds from full time through Ockenden and take the match into shoot-out.
Lions create history
Olympic Silver medallist Belgium created history by making their maiden appearance in the men's hockey World Cup summit clash, thrashing England 6-0 in a lopsided first semi-final.
Alexander Hendrickx (45th, 50th minutes) converted two penalty corners, while Tom Boon (8th), Simon Gougnard (19th), Cedric Charlier (42nd) and Sebastien Dockier (53rd) were the other goal scorers for the world number three at the Kalinga Stadium.
Prior to this, the Red Lions' best performance in the World Cup was a fifth-place finish in the last edition of the tournament at The Hague, Netherlands in 2014.
The Belgium players, who wore black armbands to pay respect to their teammate Gougnard whose father passed away before the match, dominated possession in the first two quarters and created a couple of promising chances, two of which resulted in goals.
It didn't take long for Belgium to take the lead as Boon deflected in Florent van Aubel's measured cross from the left in the eighth minute.
Belgium doubled their lead in the 19th minute through Gougnard, who scored from a rebound after Hendrickx's flick from their first penalty corner was saved by England captain and goalkeeper George Pinner.
Belgium extended their lead in the 42nd minute through Charlier, who scored with a fierce shot from a close range.
Seconds from the end of the third quarter, they made it 4-0 when Hendrickx found the back of the English net from his team's second penalty corner.
Belgium continued to toy with the English defence and pumped in two more goals in the fourth and final quarter to make the last-four contest a thoroughly one-sided affair.