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Hockey World Cup 2023: Netherlands beat Australia 3-1 to secure bronze medal

Netherlands won a bronze medal in the FIH Hockey World Cup 2023 on Sunday (January 29) at Kalinga Stadium with a brilliant 3-1 win.

By Mykhel Staff
belgium vs netherlands

Bhubaneswar, Jan 29: Netherlands defeated Australia 3-1 to win the bronze medal in the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 here at Kalinga Stadium on Sunday (January 29).

Netherlands and Australia went head-to-head in the bronze medal match, where Jeremy Hayward gave them an early lead, but an incredible 3-goal burst in 8 minutes in the third quarter, with captain Thierry Brinkman scoring twice, gave the Netherlands the lead that they would take to the end and win the bronze medal.

With the win, followed by Belgium's loss in the finals, Netherlands moved up to the second position in the FIH Men's World Outdoor Rankings, followed by silver medalists Belgium who are now ranked third ahead of Australia, who end the tournament ranked fourth.

Netherlands started the game on the front foot, with Theijs van Dam getting a powerful shot into the circle looking for a Dutch deflection, but Hoedemakers couldn't get on the end of the cross and Australia survived an early scare.

Australia started settling into the game midway through the first quarter and a pass into the circle by Jeremy Hayward found captain Zalewski open on the right of the goal, but his shot/cross went wide off the mark with Blake Govers missing a deflection from point blank range.

Australia scored the opening goal of the game through Jeremy Hayward who scored his 100th goal in his 200th appearance for Australia. It was a double blow for the Dutch who had referred the penalty corner and lost their review early in the first quarter.

australia

Netherlands won their first penalty corner of the game in the 20th minute but Jip Janssen's powerful flick went straight as an arrow and Charter managed to pull off a comfortable save to deny the Netherlands their first big chance since the opening minute.

Both teams traded opportunities to close the opening half, with big chances falling to Koen Bijen for the Dutch and Blake Govers for the Kookaburras, but both star forwards were off targets with their running shots and the teams headed into the break with Australia holding a slender one-goal advantage against the Dutch.

Netherlands started the second half with a high press, which was a tactic that worked quite well for Germany in the semi-finals. The ploy seemed to work well for Netherlands as well as they earned three quick penalty corners inside the first two minutes of the second half, and with the third attempt, Jip Janssen opened his account in the game with a powerful drag to the right of Charter to bring the teams level.

Two minutes later, Netherlands were in the lead as a clearance attempt by Tim Howard was blocked by Wortelboer in the circle and the resulting loose ball was put into the goal by Dutch captain Thierry Brinkman. Australia started to press higher in search for an equaliser, but it was Netherlands again who capitalised with a quick counter as van Dam's run from the half line produced a cross that found Brinkman unmarked at the back post and he made no mistake in doubling Netherlands lead.

Australia entered the final 15 minutes needing to score at least 2 goals to keep their hopes of winning a medal at the World Cup alive. Their high press gave Netherlands a lot to do in defence, but Jorrit Croon, along with Blok and Jansen, were stellar in the Dutch defensive circle, stopping waves of Australian crosses into the circle.

Netherlands believed they had scored the 4th goal of the game midway through the quarter with Koen Bijen knocking the ball into the goal on the back post, but a foul in the build-up reversed the goal as Australia breathed a sigh of relief. But Netherlands continued their excellent defence and as time ran out, they ran out winners, earning their third bronze medal at the men's World Cups.

Captain Thierry Brinkman was awarded player of the match and said: "We were playing quite well in the first half but couldn't convert our chances. We didn't change anything in the second half, we were just better at converting our opportunities and the way we have played today and through the tournament, we deserve this bronze medal."

FIH Hockey World Cup 2023 Full List of Award Winners

Fair Play Award: Team Belgium

Maximum Team Goals: Netherlands

Best Team Goal Celebration: Korea

Fan's Choice Award: Christopher Rühr (Germany)

JSP Foundation Best Junior Player of the Tournament: Mustaphaa Cassiem (South Africa)

Hero Top Scorer: Jeremy Hayward (Australia)

JSW Best Goalkeeper: Vincent Vanasch (Belgium)

Best Defender: Jeremy Hayward (Australia)

Best Midfielder: Victor Wegnez (Belgium)

Best Forward: Niklas Wellen (Germany)

Odisha Best Player: Niklas Wellen (Germany)

Bronze Medal: Team Netherlands

Silver Medal: Team Belgium

Gold Medal: Team Germany

Story first published: Monday, January 30, 2023, 0:30 [IST]
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