Pakistan knock out Netherlands, enter semis

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Sydney: Pakistan's proud hockey players cried tears of joy on Tuesday after their 2-0 win over defending champions the Netherlands assured them of a semi-final place in the Sydney Olympic tournament.

Sohail Abbas, the world's finest exponent of the penalty corner, gave Pakistan the lead in the 22nd minute with a blistering drag flick, and Kashif Javad iced the victory three minutes from full-time.

When the final siren sounded, the Pakistan players fell to their knees and kissed the turf. Their joy was matched by Dutch despair, with captain Stephan Veen and forward Marten Eikelboom breaking down in tears.

Eikelboom had good reason to cry, missing two shots from close range as the Netherlands mounted a strong second-half challenge.

Again it was their failure to convert penalty corner opportunities which cost the Dutch dearly. Three times they lost control of the ball from the push-out, and on another occasion they failed to get a shot in.

"When you have been on top of the mountain for so long, you subconsciously get scared of falling off," said Dutch coach Maurits Hendriks.

"Every time we have needed to perform over the last four years we have done it, but today we played with the brake on in the first half and when we came good in the second it wasn't enough," he added.

Now the defending champions' only hope of making the semi-finals is if the struggling British side can upset 1992 gold medallists Germany in the last Pool A qualifier.



(c) Reuters Limited.