In the first match of day 4, England, one of only two teams on maximum points after two rounds of competition, met Canada, who were desperately seeking their first points after losing their first two encounters.
England dominated the beginning of the match, having all the field position and most of the ball possession, and looking much more focused and determined than their rather nervous counterparts. Richard Mantell, already with six goals to his name after two matches, put away two more to give England a two goal advantage.
It seemed like Canada would going down fast but a yellow card to Richard Alexander in the 28th minute temporarily turned the tables. Within less than a minute after Alexander stepping off, Mike Lee capitalized on the advantage in numbers and scored for Canada. Still within Alexander’s five minute penalty, Canada were awarded a short corner that was laid off to the right for Rob Short who scored the equalizer, his ball deflected high off a defender’s stick and out of reach for James Fair.
The teams thus went into halftime at 2-2, and an interesting second half seemed guaranteed. After the break, England entered the pitch with renewed determination however, and within five minutes scored three early goals to put their stamp on the match again. James Tindall netted twice courtesy of two good deflections, while Jonty Clarke contributed the final goal for England.
For the remainder of the match, Canada fought tooth and nail to get back into the game, but despite some good efforts, apart from a penalty corner deflected by Kenny Pereira for the 3-5, they could not score. With this victory, England are in an excellent position to make it into the top 4 in this tournament, qualification for the World Cup guaranteed, while Canada’s prospects are dire.
Belgium 1 beat Ireland 0
Goals: Belgium – Jerome Truyens PC 9m
Belgium and Ireland disputed today’s second encounter, with Belgium looking to stay in touch with the leaders in pool A and Ireland hungry for more points after defeating Canada on Thursday.
Belgium took charge early and soon went one up when 18-year-old Jerome Truyens, who is playing an excellent tournament, baseball-batted a penalty corner rebound into the net. Even though the teams were not aware of it yet, Truyens goal would also prove to be the decider in a match that otherwise was a stand-off for the biggest part.
Ireland had several opportunities in the first half but could not capitalize on them, including four short corners that could not be converted. The Irish equally had four short corners in the second half but again none could be taking advantage of.
Throughout the match on both sides, penalty corners also were the best goalscoring chances, as strong defending prevented attacking opportunities and overall chances were few. In short, it was an intense but not pretty game.
In the second half, Ireland increasingly became stronger and dominated for long stretches of time but the Belgian defense around Brule, Van den Balck, and Renaer stood firm. John Jermyn deserves credit for his tireless efforts for Ireland even if his side were eventually denied a goal.
The best chance for the equalizer for Ireland came in the 65th minute, when a Jason Black sent a cross through the circle but Andy Barbour, no two meters from the goal and standing alone, missed the ball.
Belgium hung on to their one goal lead until the hooter, and are now in a good position with their 7 points from three matches, while Ireland will be disappointed at this defeat after having had the draw within reach for much of the match.
Pakistan 2 beat Egypt 1
Goals: Pakistan – Mudassar Khan PC 47m, Imran Warsi PC 60m,Egypt – Ahmed Mohamed FG 32m
The final match of today’s third round of pool matches in pool A was contested between Egypt and Pakistan. Pakistan, regarded as one of the tournament favorites before the event started, have not been in their best form, and they struggled again today.
Egypt played very well in this match, much improved from their first two performances, more focused and better coordinated, and they were rewarded with several good opportunities in the first half. With less than three minutes on the clock before halftime, they also got on the scoreboard first when Ahmed Mohamed coolly lobbed a ball over Pakistani goalkeeper Salman Akbar, provoking ecstatic reactions from the entire team on the field and bench.
1-0 for Egypt also was the halftime score, and quite an unexpected one. But Pakistan shifted up a gear after the break and put more pressure on their opponents. In the 47th minute, they won a penalty corner, and scored the elusive equalizer when Mudassar Khan near the post deflected the ball in.
With this, Pakistan were on a roll, and created a string of scoring chances, both through short corners and in the form of field goals. Egypt found it increasingly difficult to keep the Greenshirts at bay, but managed to cling to the draw until the 60th minute.
At that point however, they had to concede yet another penalty corner, the 5th in that half, and Imran Warsi used it wisely, producing a low flick for the winning goal. As the clock ticked down, Egypt grew more and more frantic in their attempts, and had to take back to back yellow cards for two of their players in the last ten minutes of the match, thus playing with one man down for most of that time.
Pakistan will be happy to have managed to rack up another three points and stay among the teams that compete for the top two places in the group that secure a berth in the Wold Cup after the group stage already. Egypt must be very disappointed to not have been able to hold on and see through this match that they began in such a spirited manner but in the end, they themselves gave much away with their displays of indiscipline in the second half.
Tomorrow Sunday will see the third round of pool matches for pool B, while the teams in group A enjoy another rest day.
