The world's top two sides, Belgium and Australia, have achieved their primary goal of reaching the semi-finals of the FIH Men's World Cup, and having accomplished it the hard way, they are not taking anything for granted.
Last edition's bronze medallists and world No.1 Australia came back from two goals down to beat Spain 4-3, while defending champions and Olympic gold medallists Belgium fended off a spirited challenge from New Zealand in the second half to emerge 2-0 winners in their quarter-final matches here on Tuesday.
"It (World Cup) is a tough competition against tough teams, there are no easy games. It will become harder and harder but we are very pleased that we are in the semi-finals," Australia coach Colin Batch said.
"We were in a difficult position at the start. Spain played very well, defended well and made counter attacks. The goal just before half time gave us the momentum and we did very well in the second half, especially the third quarter," the coach added.
It was Australia's 12th straight semi-final entry in the World Cup since the 1978 edition, which shows their consistency in the showpiece event.
"We have to be at our best in a World Cup, there is no escape from that. It will only get tougher as you go ahead in the tournament," Australia captain Aran Zalewski added.
In the last edition in 2018, Australia lost to the Netherlands in the semi-finals in a penalty shootout.
Belgium captain Felix Denayer said anything can happen in the semi-finals and what his team can do is try and play their best game.
"We will try to grow in the tournament and analyse this game (against New Zealand) and all the details and see if there is room for improvement. That is the only thing we can do, we can only hope to play our best.
"Winning the title is what we dream of but we will first focus on the semi-finals. Back-to-back titles will be brilliant."