Bhubaneswar: The European giants were facing off at Kalinga Stadium on hockey’s biggest stage for the second time in back-to-back World Cup editions.
And it was déjà vu for both Belgium and The Netherlands.
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In December 2018, Belgium trumped the Dutch 3-2 in a penalty shootout to lift the World Cup after neither team had managed to score in regulation time.
Thirteen months later, they clashing again on Friday evening, this time in the semifinal stage. But the outcome was same – Belgium won the shootout 3-2 after the teams shared 4 goals in 60 minutes of regulation play.
Belgium will face comeback kings Germany, who earlier this evening erased a 2-goal deficit for the second time in three days to conquer Australia 4-3.
