Pakistan survive Polish scare

UTRECHT, May 27: Defending champions, Pakistan enjoyed large slices of luck and came through 3-1 against Poland, who missed a second-half pe...

UTRECHT, May 27: Defending champions, Pakistan enjoyed large slices of luck and came through 3-1 against Poland, who missed a second-half penalty stroke, in a crucial pool B match of the men8217;s World Cup hockey tournament, here on Wednesday. But the victory anything but guaranteed Pakistani a ticket to semi-finals as they still need to beat Australia on Thursday which certainly is a tall order.

The position in the pool is rather tricky. Australia, following their fluent 3-0 win over England, are at the top with 10 points, so are Spain who earlier blanked Malaysia 3-0. The Aussies are better placed with a goal-difference of plus-19, as against Spain8217;s plus-6. Pakistan, with nine points, appear on the verge of getting knocked out as their hopes rest on defeating Australia and Poland doing a good turn by either drawing or, better still, defeating Spain. On a pitch heavy with water following intermittent showers through the night and early this morning, Pakistan were all at sea at the start.

The Pakistanis,having weathered the early storm, settled down and struck twice in six minutes as Atif Bashir put home a Mohd Nadeem pass in the 11th minute and Rahim Khan set up a Kamran Ashraf goal in the 16th. But the Pakistanis could hardly afford to relax in the face of persistent Polish attacks which finally yielded results early in the second-half when Rafal Grotowksi capped a move by Karol Podzorski. The Poles were subsequently awarded a penalty stroke after Alam tripped Piotr Mukula. Alam came up with a brillant save off Slawomir Lukaszewski8217;s attempt from the spot.

A relieved Pakistan scored an insurance goal three minutes from the close as Kamran Ashraf slammed the ball in after Rahim had done all the hard work.

AUSSIES TOO GOOD: The Australians came up with yet another powerful performance as they blitzed England, something that did not reflect in the score-line, and yet, the game was decidedly one-sided. Jay Stacy was the man of the moment for the Aussies who left nothing to chance and simply sat onthe English defence. Stacy smashed two penalty corners 34th and 47th to the boards and which goalkeeper Simon Mason had no earthly chance to stop. Both the conversions were the typical banana shots popularised by Floris Bovelander. Earlier, in the 25th minute, Michael Brennan had let fly from top D8217; off a pass from Mathew John Smith following a hectic goalmouth scramble which saw Mason blocking a couple of attempts. Off the second rebound, Smith relayed the ball to the unmarked Brennan.

EASY FOR SPAIN: Olympic silver medallists Spain, playing at a sedate pace, were still just too good for Malaysia and won 3-0 which considerably enhanced their chances of making the round of four. The Spaniards have 10 points from four games and will play Poland in their concluding league fixture.

DUTCH IN SEMIS: Late Tuesday night, in murky weather conditions, the Netherlands needed all the support hey could muster from the packed stands and put it across Korea 4-2 to qualify for the semi-finals from PoolA, behind Germany.Thursday8217;s fixtures Men, IST: Germany vs Korea 4.05 p.m.; India vs Canada 5.05 p.m.; England vs Malaysia 6.35 p.m.; Spain vs Poland 7.35 p.m.; Australia vs Pakistan 9.05 p.m.; New Zealand vs the Netherlands 11.35 p.m..