Hockey World Cup 2023: Belgium blank Korea 5-0, Germany thrash Japan 3-0 in Pool B encounters

Bhubaneswar, Jan 14: In the first Pool B games, defending champions Belgium started their campaign in the Hockey World Cup 2023 with a massive 5-0 win over Korea while two-time champions Germany thrashed Japan 3-0 here at Kalinga Stadium on Saturday (January 14).

Belgium ease past Korea after tough start

The contest promised to be a thriller with the Olympic and World Champion European side going head-to-head against Korea, who were in brilliant form during the FIH Hockey Men's Nations Cup that took place in December 2022.

Korea gave a great account of themselves in the first half, going toe to toe with Belgium in attack while also keeping the Belgian attack at bay to go into the half at 0-0.

Belgium scored in the first minute of the second half with Alexander Hendrickx burying his third penalty corner attempt of the day. The first goal opened the floodgates for Belgium and they tacked on 4 more goals in the final 16 minutes of the game to earn a comfortable win.

Victor Wegnez was awarded the player of the match and said: "It was a great team effort. I collect the player of the match, but it's a team game and we played really well as a team to get this win, which we are very happy with."

Germany maintain clean sheet with big win over Japan

The match between Germany and Japan followed a similar pattern to the game that preceded it as the first half saw Japan frustrate the 2-time champions and match them step for step.

Germany (in white) against Japan (in black)

However, Japan - who are the Asian Games champions - saw a drop in intensity in the second half which gave the German's a foot in the door and they made full use of the opportunity to grab the goals and take all 3 points.

Gonzalo Peillat was stopped twice in the first half from the penalty corners, so Germany tried an intricate variation in the second half and it unlocked the Japanese defence with captain Mats Grambusch getting the final touch.

Germany scored a second on a brilliant counter as a pass by Müller from his own half found Rühr behind the Japanese defence, and he rounded the keeper and put the ball in the back of the goal brilliantly. Some more good work by Ruhr then allowed Prinz to get on the scoresheet to make it 3-0 to Germany in the 49th minute and seal the win.

Christopher Rühr who scored the second goal and set up the third for Germany was awarded player of the match and said: "My goal was all thanks to quite an intuitive pass by Muller and I just had the keeper to beat, so that was the easy part. It's great to play in front of 15,000 loud cheering fans in India and I couldn't feel any better after this win."