HWL Finals: Belgium demolishes Spain

In the other match on Sunday, Argentina held Netherlands to a 3-3 draw.

Netherland’s Verga Valentin (No. 10) celebrates after scoring the second goal against Argentina at the Kalinga stadium on Sunday.

Three goals in as many minutes saw Spain go from simply losing a game to being thrashed comprehensively by World No. 2 Belgium, suffering a 5-0 loss on Sunday here at the Hockey World League Finals. The other match saw Argentina fight back thrice to draw 3-3 with Netherlands.

Read: Hot-and-cold India takes on Germany

Loick Luypaert struck thrice for Belgium which only had a 1-0 lead at half time as Spain preferred to stay back and look for chances to counter. But a contested penalty corner converted three minutes from time saw Spain throw all caution to the wind. It didn't earn a goal but did help Belgium score twice more past a non-existent defence to go top of Pool A with two wins in as many games.

In the other Pool A game, Gonzalo Peillat finally found the target 20 seconds from time to help Olympic champion Argentina draw with European champion Netherlands.

• Belgium 5 (Loick Luypaert 3, Cedric Charlier, Florent van Aubel) bt Spain 0; Argentina 3 (Lucas Vila, Matias Rey, Gonzalo Peillat) drew with Netherlands 3 (Thierry Brinkman, Valentin Verga, Mirco Pruijser).