India’s 43-year long wait to reach a hockey World Cup semi-final continued after going down 1-2 to the Netherlands at the jam-packed Kalinga Stadium yesterday.
Thierry Brinkmann (14th minute) and Mink van der Weerden (50th) scored for the Dutch while India’s lone goal came in the opening quarter from Akashdeep Singh (12th).
Both sides started with a bang in an eventful first quarter that witnessed Akashdeep giving the hosts ahead in the 12th minute with a brilliant reverse flick after the initial penalty corner attempt was parried by the Dutch goalkeeper.
The visitors pulled off a stunning equaliser just before the end of the first quarter, thanks to Thierry hitting the box to make it 1-1.
The second half saw both teams battling for the lead even as the tourists managed to keep possession of the ball on most occasions, only to return to the dug out locked at 1-1 by half time.
On resumption, the tourists earned three back-to-back PC’s but India blocked away all of them even as the hosts were temporarily reduced to 10 men after Hardik was shown the green card towards the end of the quarter.
With both sides desperate for the lead, the Netherlands started the final quarter by successfully converting their fourth PC to make it 2-1.
It was in the 50th minute, when Van Der Weerden hit the ball dead straight only to find India’s custodian P.R. Sreejesh wrong footed as the ball found the target. 
With 10 minutes to go, India were once again penalised after Amit Rohidas was shown the yellow card but the Manpreet Singh-led side kept pressing for the equaliser. In the next minute, India had a golden opportunity to square things off but Harmanpreet’s shot was saved by the Dutch goalkeeper.
From there on, the Dutch defence did not allow any room to the home side as the tie ended in a heartbreak for the vociferous home crowd.
Speaking after the match, Netherlands match winner Mink van der Weerden said: “It’s been an exciting game to look at, I guess. It’s been going up and down. We didn’t get the control we really wanted, I think. It’s hard playing India. They were really creative and fast and sometimes a bit unpredictable, which is one of their strengths. But I think we did well. It’s been a pleasure to be on the field. The crowd was crazy. It’s been impressive and it’s been a lot of fun playing this game.”
Looking ahead to the semi-final meeting with Australia, Van der Weerden said: “Australia and the Netherlands are two different teams from four years ago, so we cannot compare now with the 2014 final. It’s a new game. We’ll see what happens and may the best team win!”
The Dutch side will meet Australia in the semi-finals tomorrow.
Earlier, Olympic silver medallists Belgium edged out two-time champions Germany 2-1 in a keenly contested quarter-final. In a neck and neck fight, third ranked Belgium held their nerves and came back from a goal down to enter the semi-finals for the first time.  
Speaking after the match, Belgium’s Simon Gougnard was understandably thrilled about the result, but indicated that the team’s focus had already switched to tomorrow’s semi-final against England. 
“We had to fight really hard”, said Gougnard. “We are really happy but now we have to refocus and reboot and we’re looking forward to play the next game against England. The English team has some really quality players on the ball. A really physical team so we’re going to have to bring our ‘A’ game if we want to be able to contest with them. We will have to analyse them on video and come back with a really good plan if we want to win.”