Summary The Netherlands made a winning start to 34th Champions Trophy by beating Pakistan 3-1.
The Netherlands, playing with only half the squad that won a field hockey silver medal at the London Olympics, defeated Pakistan 3-1 in Saturday s opening match of the men’s Champions Trophy featuring the world’s top eight-ranked teams.
The Dutch scored all three goals off penalty-corner conversions.
It was a sluggish start for both teams in the first half, as they spent much of the time in the neutral zone with the scoring chances few and far between. It wasn’t until Pakistan’s Muhammed Waqas made a diving goal 17 minutes into action that both teams shook off the cobwebs and turned it up a notch.
The Dutch put in the equalizer on a penalty corner opportunity when Klaas Vermeulen scored with four minutes left in the half. The goal would prove to the start of a flurry of penalty corner chances for the Dutch, who settled into a good rhythm after netting the equalizer.
Vermeulen doubled the lead 10 minutes into the second half on another clean penalty corner goal as Pakistan looked more and more outmatched the longer the game went on. With 14 minutes left in regulation Jereone Herzberer put in the insurance 3-1 marker to life the Dutch to the victory in their first outing.
In later matches Saturday, Olympic gold medalists Germany play New Zealand, Australia attempting to win its fifth straight Champions Trophy takes on Belgium, and England plays India. The final is scheduled for Dec. 9.
