Hockey World Cup 2018 semifinal: England 0-6 Belgium

Belgium thrashes England 6-0 in Bhubaneswar's Kalinga Stadium in the first semifinal of the 2018 Hockey World Cup to move to its first ever final.

Updated : Dec 15, 2018 17:31 IST , Bhubaneswar

A general view of the Kalinga stadium, the venue of the 2018 Hockey World Cup.
A general view of the Kalinga stadium, the venue of the 2018 Hockey World Cup.
lightbox-info

A general view of the Kalinga stadium, the venue of the 2018 Hockey World Cup.

 

FULL TIME! BELGIUM QUALIFIES FOR THE FINAL! The Red Lions have been exceptional today and they move to their first ever World Cup final. England did not turn up today and it falls at the semifinal stage again. The game was one-sided affair and Belgium will take on Australia or Netherlands tomorrow.

57' van Doren gives away a penalty corner. Ansell takes it for England and his shot is deflected. Time is running out for England to find a consolation goal.

56' Boccard does well to make sure the ball doesn't roll out of play. England players switch off thinking the he will not get there but he does and passes to Dockier, whose fierce shot is saved.

54' Luke Taylor takes it and it's comfortably saved by Vanasch.

54' The ball is deflected to Zachary Wallace in the Belgian circle and the referee gives England a penalty corner. Belgium disagrees and asks for a referral, but the first replay shows a clear push on Wallace. Right call from the referee.

53' GOAL! Belgium gets a sixth goal. Incredible. A beautiful field goal by Sebastien Dockier.

52' Five goals up, a foot comfortably in tomorrow's final and Belgium is still in control of this game.

49' Hendrix scores again and Belgium takes a five goal lead. That is his seventh goal of the tournament!

49' The referee gives Belgium a penalty corner for the ball bouncing off Gauthier Boccard's leg. The English players disagree with the call but refuse to take a referral. Replays show that the referee made the right call.

49' Simon Gougnard gets a green card and he'll sit down for two minutes. Belgium, with a man up, shouldn't find it difficult a 4-0 lead while he catches a breather.

47' Tom Boon gets tackled by Liam Ansell before the Belgian could get his tomahawk away.

45' The third quarter comes to an end and Belgium has all but sealed a place in the final.

45' Belgium wins a penalty corner with less than a second left in the half. AND BELGIUM SCORES! Alexander Hendrix with a beautiful drag, keeps it low and puts it into the goal between the left post and the keeper.

43' Saved by Vincent Vanasch and Belgium goes on a brilliant counter. It ends with Gauthier Boccard shooting just wide of the goal. Had that been on target, it would have been a fourth goal.

43' Barry Middleton wins England a penalty corner. Can England reduce the deficit before this quarter ends?

GOAL! Belgium scores again, this time through Cedric Charlier. Another pass over the England defence and this time Charlier manages to get it under control. He evades two England players and thumps the ball into the goal. Low and into the bottom corner. No saving that. And Belgium gets closer to a first World Cup final.

40' England is doing better in this quarter than it did in the first two.

37' Green card for Florent van Aubel for a late challenge on Harry Martin.

36' England continues to sit deep and soak up the pressure in this half too. It tries to pass its way out from the back but Belgium has players attacking each pass. And almost manage to intercept right out the England circle.

33' An aerial ball almost falls to Gougnard. Pin point pass that and all that was missing there was the control from the goalscorer.

31' James Galls gets hauled to the ground and England wins a penalty corner! Adam Dixon takes it and it gets saved inches before the goal line! And Barry Middleton might have picked up a small injury trying to get to the rebound.

31' England gets the second half underway.

2
 

30' The first half comes to an end with Belgium well on top, with a two goal cushion. England will welcome the break as it has been almost clueless in this half. Is Belgium on its way to a first ever World Cup semifinal?

 

27' England over-awed by the occasion? Its players are finding it difficult to string together simple passes here. In stark contrast to how Belgium has been today.

 

23' Belgium has done much better than expected. It has controlled possession, passed around the England players with confidence and look a lot more confident than England. 2-0 up and still looking to increase its lead.

 

19' First penalty corner of the day for Belgium and BELGIUM SCORES! Simon Gougnard with the goal. 2-0 lead before the end of the second quarter.

1JPG
 

15' Loick Luypaert's shot falls to Boon, whose shot comes off the goal post. And with that the first quarter comes to an end.

 

8' GOAL! Belgium takes the lead through Tom Boon! Victor Wegnez passes to Florent van Aubel on the left, who centers to Boon and that's the opening goal.

tom-boon
Tom Boon celebrates scoring against England.
 

7' England on the backfoot in the opening minutes. All eleven do well to defend as a pack but are finding it difficult to get hold of the possession.

1' Belgium is in ts red kit while England is in all-white. We are 60 minutes away from finding out who will play in tomorrow's final.

start
 

• The first semifinal of the day sees England taking on Belgium. England defeated 2016 Olympic champion Argentina to make it to the semis while Belgium defeated two-time champion Germany .

• The tournament past the upsets stage, the minnows gone back after showing the occasional spark of genius that might augur well sometime in future, the challengers quelled and some big guns falling silent on the big stage, the existing world order has been re-established as the Hockey World Cup enters the home stretch here with the semifinals on Saturday. Read our preview of today's semifinals games .

• We are at the business end of the 2018 Hockey World Cup now. England, Belgium, Australia and Netherlands are the four teams who will be vying for a place in the finals, and win the trophy.

Sign in to unlock all user benefits
  • Get notified on top games and events
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign up / manage to our newsletters with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early bird access to discounts & offers to our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide to our community guidelines for posting your comment