Germany in semi-finals with the help of Grambusch brothers, Netherlands also in last four
Germany came from behind by conceding two goals in the last two minutes of their FIH Men’s World Cup match to beat England on penalties and enter the semi-finals, while the Netherlands also joined them in the last-four stage of their FIH Men’s World Cup match here on Wednesday. I reached England were leading 2-0 in the 58th minute but Germany captain Mats Grambusch and his younger brother Tom scored a minute apart to win a “thrilling” quarter-final match.
Germany finished second in Pool B and defeated France 5–1 in a crossover match. They will now face three-time champions and bronze medalists from the previous edition, Australia, in the semi-finals on Friday. In the second quarterfinal match, the Netherlands, runners-up in the last two legs, beat South Korea 5-1 to set up a last-four clash with Belgium on Friday. Ninth-ranked South Korea pulled off an upset on Monday by defeating 2016 Rio Olympic champions Argentina in a crossover match.
He showed great spirit against an opponent much stronger than him and ranked third in the world rankings. South Korea was the only Asian team in the quarterfinals. The crowd at the Kalinga Stadium expected England to win the match comfortably as they took a 2–0 lead through goals from Zachary Wallace (12th minute) and Liam Ansell (33rd minute). But Germany came back with goals from Mats and the Tom brothers in the 58th and 59th minutes. Just before this, Christopher Ruhr missed a penalty stroke in the 57th minute.
But Germany, trailing 1–2, were awarded a penalty stroke a minute before the end of the match, and Mats set up his younger brother Tom, who made no mistake to take the match to a penalty shootout. Nicklas Wellen, Hannes Müller, Prinz Theis and Christopher Ruhr scored for Germany in the shootout. James Albury, Zachary Wallace and Phil Roper could only score for England, while David Goodfield missed the target. In the second quarterfinal match, Koen Bijden scored twice for the Netherlands in the 27th and 31st minutes, while Justen Blok (36th), Stijn van Heijingen (50th) and Teune Bens (58th) scored the other goals for the Netherlands. Inwoo Seo scored a consolation goal for South Korea in the 51st minute.
