Belgium glide into Hockey World Cup final

Belgium have booked a place in the 2018 Hockey World Cup final, where they will the Netherlands, who beat Australia in the semi-final.

Belgium hockey stars

Belgium have cruised into the 2018 Hockey World Cup final by drubbing England 6-0 in India. (AAP)

England's dream of reaching a first men's Hockey World Cup final in 32 years was ended in emphatic fashion by a 6-0 defeat to Belgium.

Danny Kerry's team were outclassed by their dominant opponents and had little response on a disappointing Saturday afternoon in India.

A double from tournament top scorer Alexander Hendrickx plus strikes from Tom Boon, Simon Gougnard, Cedric Charlier and Sebastien Dockier did the damage in Bhubaneswar.

Belgium, ranked third in the world, will face the winner of Holland and reigning champions Australia in Sunday's final.

Man of the match Boon touched in Florent Van Aubel's cross to open the scoring early on, before Gougnard capitalised on a rebound at a penalty corner to score the second before half-time.

Charlier smashed home in the third quarter following some sloppy defending, while Hendrickx wrapped up victory with his sixth and seventh goals of the tournament from penalty corners.

Dockier, who earlier produced a contender for miss of the tournament by failing to convert with the goal gaping, inflicted further misery on Kerry's men by powering in a sixth.

England, whose only final appearance came in 1986, almost halved the deficit at 2-0 early in the second half when Adam Dixon was denied on the line by the impressive Arthur Van Doren following a penalty corner.

But, in truth, they could easily have lost the semi-final by an even greater margin, with Boon seeing an effort strike the frame and Belgium failing to convert a handful of late chances.


Share

2 min read

Published

Source: AAP



Share this with family and friends


Get SBS News daily and direct to your Inbox

Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox.

By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS.

Download our apps
SBS News
SBS Audio
SBS On Demand

Listen to our podcasts
An overview of the day's top stories from SBS News
Interviews and feature reports from SBS News
Your daily ten minute finance and business news wrap with SBS Finance Editor Ricardo Gonçalves.
A daily five minute news wrap for English learners and people with disability
Get the latest with our News podcasts on your favourite podcast apps.

Watch on SBS
SBS World News

SBS World News

Take a global view with Australia's most comprehensive world news service
Watch the latest news videos from Australia and across the world