Bhubaneswar: Germany and The Netherlands won their respective quarterfinals in contrasting fashion on Wednesday evening to join Australia and Belgium in the semifinals of the FIH Odisha Hockey World Cup 2023.
England looked to have well and truly sealed a last-four berth as they led Germany 2-0 with less than 2 minutes left on the clock.
But then the Grambusch brothers got into the thick of action.
After Christopher Ruhr’s penalty stroke struck the cross bar in the 57th minute, skipper Mats Grambusch scored a field goal a minute later to reduce the margin. A desperate Germany raided the English citadel again and forced another penalty stroke.
Mats asked younger brother Tom to step up, and the latter made no mistake to send the thrilling contest into a penalty shootout.
All four Germans scored, while two Englishmen had their attempts thwarted by German custodian Jean-Paul Denneberg.
The Dutch had no problems against the Koreans, winning the final quarterfinal 5-1.
Runners-up in the 2018 Bhubaneswar World Cup, The Netherlands had to wait 26 minutes to get their nose in front. But then the floodgates opened as they scored one in second quarter, two each in third and final quarters to set up a date with champions Belgium.
SEMIFINAL LINEUP
* Australia vs Germany – Jan 27, 4.30 pm (Bhubaneswar)
* Belgium vs Netherlands – Jan 27, 7 pm (Bhubaneswar).
