by Hockey Supporter
7. June 2009 02:45
In their first pool matches today in Johor Bahru, Belgium wrestled down Egypt and Pakistan defeated a resilient Russian team.
Belgium defeat Egypt 5:1 (1:0)
In a very physical match, the Belgian team wrestled three hard fought points from the Egyptians' hands. The Belgians were clearly the technically more skilled team, with mature players compared to an Egyptian side that was held back time and again by individual mistakes and a lack of foresight.
The Europeans struggled with the temperatures and excessive humidity a lot more than their African opponents and thus took a while to get a good handle on things, scoring only once in the first half and again right after halftime ended.
A little later, Egypt got on the scoreboard and it looked like Belgium might let the three points slip from their grip against the grittily determined opposition for a moment. Denied time after time by the Egyptians fighting to hang on, the Belgians were finally led to victory through two quick Maximilien Peeters penalty corner goals near the end of the match.
Alexandre de Paeuw piled on a fifth goal for Belgium in the dying seconds of the match, establishing his team as one to watch for in this competition.
Pakistan defeat Russia 7:2 (2:1)
In an unexpectedly close game, in which Pakistan only managed to widen the gap on the scoreboard in the last fifteen minutes, the Greenshirts certainly earned their three points the hard way today.
After an early goal that surprised the Russians, Pakistan met fierce resistance from their opponents in their quest to pull further away. It was only after 15 minutes that they managed to score again, and soon found the Russians closing the gap with their first goal.
Pakistan packed on another, only to find Russia catching up again three minutes later. By this time however, the tide was slowly shifting, the Russians were finding it harder and harder to keep up, and Pakistan started opening up spaces and running away from their opponents.
Re-establishing a two goal lead within the minute, the Greenshirts soon charged ahead with another goal, and heaped on two more in the final minutes for a flattering scoreline that exaggerates their dominance in today's encounter.
Belgium - Egypt 5:1 (1:0)
BEL - Maximilien PEETERS PC 24m
BEL - Renaud PANGRAZIO FG 36m
EGY - Houssam GHABRAN FG 41m
BEL - Maximilien PEETERS PC 67m
BEL - Maximilien PEETERS PC 69m
BEL - Alexandre de PAEUW FG 70m
Pakistan - Russia 7:2 (2:1)
PAK - Abdul Haseem KHAN FG 6m
PAK - Shafqat RASOOL FG 21m
RUS - Alexey MAYOROV PC 28m
PAK - Abdul Haseem KHAN FG 49m
RUS - Nikolay YANKUN PS 52m
PAK - Muhammad ZUBAIR FG 53m
PAK - Kashif ALI PC 56m
PAK - Abdul Haseem KHAN FG 66m
PAK - Kashif ALI PC 70m
(source: worldhockey.org)
