Three-time champions the Netherlands registered a record 14-0 win over debutants Chile on Thursday to become the first team to book a quarter-final berth at the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup. With three wins in as many games, the Netherlands topped Pool C with a maximum of nine points.
In the second match of the day, world No. 3 Netherlands played with Chile, ranked 23rd, and scored goals to record the largest margin of victory in a World Cup match. The record for the largest margin of victory in a Hockey World Cup match was previously held by world No. 1 Australia, who beat South Africa 12–0 in New Delhi.
Jip Janssen (6th, 29th, 34th, 44th) and captain Thierry Brinkmann (25th, 33rd, 58th) scored hat-tricks, while Koen Bijn (40th, 45th) scored twice. Dirk De Wilder (22nd), Thijs van Dam (23rd), Terence Peeters (37th), Justen Blok (42nd) and Tun Baines (48th) scored for the Dutch.
The Netherlands, who have won the World Cup three times and finished runners-up in the last two editions, earned 18 penalty corners, scoring six of them, while Chile got just two PCs in the match.
While the Netherlands have directly qualified for the last-eight round, Malaysia and New Zealand from Pool C will play crossover matches to book their places in the quarter-finals.
Each of the 16 teams was divided into four groups i.e. A, B, C and D which had to play three matches against the teams from their pool. As per the rules, the team topping the table will directly qualify for the quarterfinals. The second and third place teams will play crossover matches from January 22.
(Inputs from PTI)