Holland suffer further humiliation

Pre-tournament favourites the Netherlands, unbeaten till Argentina and India upset their applecart in the second round, suffered further humiliation when they were beaten by Spain 2-3 in the classification round in the junior men's hockey World Cup, at the Tasmanian Hockey Centre, in Hobart, Australia, on Saturday.

They will now have to play Korea, who were beaten 1-4 by Australia in an earlier match, to decide the seventh and eighth positions in the 16-team tournament.

Australia and Spain will play-off for the fifth and sixth positions.

As the scoreline indicates, the Aussies, despite resting their captain, Sydney Olympian Craig Victory, were distinctly superior to the hard-running Koreans. They opened the scoring from a penalty-corner deflection by Travis Brooks and then managed to hold a slight edge right through the first half though the Koreans always looked dangerous from counter attacks and the penalty-corners that resulted from them.

In the second session, it was Koreans who had the first look at goal and it fetched them the equaliser. Sung Hoon Yoon showed good reflexes as he threw himself forward to deflect a cross past goalkeeper Leon Martin in the 37th minute.

Immediately the Aussies pulled up their socks and swarmed the Korean defence. They regained the lead after a couple of wasted opportunities, when Grant Schubert scored from a penalty-corner in the 53 minute. Steven Bullion made it 3-1 three minutes later before Lachlan Vivian-Taylor could complete the rout six minutes from the hooter.

In the Spain-Holland match, it was the Spanish who opened the scoring when Eduard Tubau converted a penalty-corner in the seventh minute. But the Netherlands replied in the 14th minute, with Mathjis Van Weerd scoring from close range.

Ten minutes later, the Dutch grabbed the lead from a penalty-stroke, after Timo Bruinsma was checked while advancing to score. Captain Geert Jan Derikx completed the formality from the 'spot'.

Spain could have drawn level with just a minute left for the breather when they too were awarded a penalty-stroke. However, Tubau sent the ball wide.

But four minutes on resumption, they did equalise following a quick passing bout which resulted in Eduard Arbos finding the mark.

Then, in the 41st minute, a penalty-corner came Spain's way and Santiago Freixa flicked hard and true to score what turned out to be the match-winner.

The Dutch pressed hard for a reply but the Spanish held on to assure themselves a fifth-sixth placing.

In the classification match for 13-14 positions, a golden goal in the last ten seconds of extra-time gave Scotland a 3-2 victory over Ireland.

Ireland were two goals up through Ian Allen and John Jermyn by the 20th minute, but they frittered away the advantage with some poor defensive play late in the second session and paid dearly for it.

Ten minutes from the end, Scotland scored twice in a space of four minutes, when Alan Johnson (penalty-corner in the 61st minute) and Andrew Sewnauth (field goal in the 65th) found the mark to take the match to extra-time.

Ireland could have wrapped up the match had they scored from a penalty-stroke in the 40th minute, but David Eakins's feeble push was saved by Scottish keeper Alistair McGregor.

With seconds to go, Steven Glass latched on to a free-hit from outside the circle to slam the winning goal.

In the play-off for 9th-10th places, New Zealand got the better of France 2-0. Both the goals came in the first-half.

Hayden Shaw opened the scoring in the fourth minute from a penaty-corner while Lloyd Stephenson got the second goal in the ninth minute from a field goal.

South Africa beat Malaysia 7-5 on penalty-strokes, after the teams were level 3-3 at full-time, to finish 11th.

Malaysia were 3-0 up by the 40th minute, through goals from Boon Huat Chua (sixth minute penalty-corner and 27th minute penalty-stroke) and Mohd Fairua Ramli (40th minute penalty-corner) but succumbed to a late fightback by the South Africans.

Goals by Ian Symons (from a 44th minute penalty-corner) and Ryan Ravenscroft (a 51st minute penalty-corner and 60th minute field goal) enabled the South Africans take the match into extra-time.

Chile defeated Canada in extra-time to win their first match of the tournament and finish in 15th position. Canada finished at the bottom of the table.

The Canadians were ahead 1-0 at half-time, Michael Lee converting a penalty-corner in the 35th minute. But Andreas Fingerhuth restored parity for Chile in the 57th minute. In extra-time, Jose Zirpel scored in the ninth minute to clinch the issue for Chile.

Complete Coverage: 7th Junior Men's World Cup 2001