Hockey players start World Cup with easy victory over Malaysia | Sports Other

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Jan 14, 2023 at 12:07 PM

The Dutch hockey players have made a good start to the World Cup in India. The team of national coach Jeroen Delmee won Malaysia’s first group match 4-0 on Saturday.

After a difficult first quarter, Thijs van Dam opened the score in the Indian city of Rourkela in the nineteenth minute. Jip Janssen used a penalty shot just before the break and the game was decided with that. Teun Beins made the 3-0 from a penalty corner and Jorrit Croon set the final score at 4-0.

The Orange was still afraid of captain Thierry Brinkman. The son of former top hockey player Jacques Brinkman had a bad fall at the end of the third quarter and went to the side with visible pain. A few minutes before the end he made his appearance again, so that the biggest worries disappeared.

The Netherlands will play the second group match on Monday. Then New Zealand is the opponent. Earlier in the day, the New Zealanders won 3-1 against Chile, which will meet the Orange on Thursday in the last group game. Only the group winner qualifies for the quarter-finals. The numbers two and three go to the intermediate round.

The Dutch are chasing the first world title since 1998 in India. After winning the final in Utrecht, the Netherlands lost the final battle of the global final round in 2014 and 2018. In 2021, the Olympic Games in Tokyo turned out to be a drama. The Netherlands was eliminated in the quarterfinals, after which Max Caldas left as national coach. Since then, record international Delmee has been in charge of the Orange.

Position in group C

1. Netherlands 1-3 (+4)2. New Zealand 1-3 (+2)3. Chile 1-0 (-2)4. Malaysia 1-0 (-4)

Orange overcomes nervous start

With ten World Cup debutants and a considerably rejuvenated team, the Dutch team got off to a nervous start against Malaysia. The Netherlands suffered a lot of unnecessary loss of possession. At the same time, Delmee’s team had little to fear from the number eleven in the world ranking.

The Netherlands slowly played off the nerves and that resulted in Van Dam’s opening goal in the nineteenth minute. A free hit by Lars Balk came through Malaysian players for Van Dam’s stick, who coolly finished with a bounce: 1-0.

The Orange then raged like a whirlwind over Malaysia and came 2-0 four minutes after the opening goal. Janssen was allowed to moor for a penalty after Jonas de Geus was hit on his stick with a shot. The specialist from the Netherlands made no mistake from the spot.

Malaysia still bit off after the break, but goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak kept his goal clean with two penalty corner attempts. On the other hand, Beins was successful from the head of the circle (3-0). A minute before the end, Croon coolly finished off a nice attack and with that the star player helped the Orange to a clear start to the World Cup.

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Image: ANP

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