Pakistan had two opportunities to reduce the margin, but Ali Shan and Muhammad Irfan Jr missed the target when they had a clear sight of goal. Those missed opportunities were punished just before half time when Cedric Charlier’s speculative cross-shot took a wicked deflection off the stick of Pakistan captain Ammad Butt and flew into the goal to give Belgium a 3-0.

Belgium added a fourth goal to their collection when Sebastien Dockier finished off a flowing team move to leave Pakistan with a mountain to climb in the final 25 minutes. Tom Boon completed a 5-0 score-line from the penalty spot in the fourth quarter. It was a special day for Belgium duo Florent van Aubel and Simon Gougnard, with the former making his 200th international appearance for his country and the latter being named Player of the Match.

The last cross-over match between the Netherlands (WR: 4) and Canada produced a fascinating opening 15 minutes as the Pan-American team frustrated the European champions. Canada goalkeeper David Carter – later named Player of the Match – bravely charged down a shot from Bob de Voogd that crashed against the shot-stopper’s helmet, while Mink van der Weerden wasted a penalty corner effort towards the end of the period.

The breakthrough arrived in the opening moments of the second period when defender Lars Balk found himself at the other end of the field to smash a blistering first-time effort under the cross-bar, producing the sort of finish that most strikers would be proud of. Carter denied the Dutch a second when he saved a penalty stroke from Jeroen Hertzberger, although the Netherlands did take a 2-0 lead into half-time when Robbert Kemperman guided home a cross-shot from Thijs van Dam.

The Netherlands put some clear water between themselves and the Canadians with a solid display in the third quarter, netting twice to take the score to 4-0. Van Dam scored the third while Kemperman was the creator of the Netherlands’ fourth goal, stealing possession and dancing through the Canadian defence before eliminating goalkeeper Carter with a perfect pass to Thierry Brinkman, who walked the ball over the line to effectively end the contest with quarter to spare. The scoring was completed in the fourth quarter by Thijs van Dam, starting and finishing a rapid counter-attack.

RESULTS:

Dec 11 (Match No 27, Cross-over): Belgium (Alexander Hendrickx 10-PC, Thomas Briels 13-FG, Cedric Charlier 27-FG, Sebastien Dockier 35-FG, Tom Boon 53-PS) beat Pakistan 5-0. PoM: Simon Gougnard (Belgium).
Dec 11 (Match No 28, Cross-over): Netherlands (Lars Balk 16-FG, Robbert Kemperman 20-FG, Thijs van Dam 40-FG, 58-FG; Thierry Brinkman 41-FG) beat Canada 5-0. PoM: David Carter (Canada).
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TOP: Simon Gougnard (Belgium) receives the Player of the Match award from former India woman hockey team captain Subhadra Pradhan on December 11, 2018.
RIGHT: Florent van Aubel shows the memento he received after making his 200th international appearance for Belgium on December 10, 2018.