The Hague: Argentina made their maiden appearance in the men’s Hockey World Cup semifinals after posting a comprehensive 5-1 victory over South Africa at the Kyocera Stadium here on Tuesday.
Argentina’s victory, their fourth in five outings, gives them 12 points and ousts Olympic champions Germany from the semifinal race.
Germany, who were later scheduled to play South Korea in their last match, have six points from four matches after suffering identical 1-0 defeats against Argentina and hosts Netherlands.
Olympic silver medallists Netherlands were the first to secure passage into the semifinals from Group B with four straight wins.
This is only the second time in World Cup history that the Germans have not advanced to the semifinals. The only previous occasion was in the inaugural World Cup in 1971 when Kenya made the semifinals at the expense of West Germany.
Argentina, placed 11 in the world rankings, continued their robust game to seal their first-ever semifinal with Gonzago Peillat and Lucas Vila scoring two goals each after Joaquin Menini opened the scoring in the 20th minute.
South Africa’s lone goal came from the sticks of Clinton Panther, but Argentina had by then done enough to secure entry into the semifinals.
Argentina’s previous best finish in the men’s World Cup was sixth position they secured in the 1986 and 2002 World Cups.
Meanwhile, late on Monday, England defeated Belgium 3-2 to clinch a berth in the semifinals.
Iain Lewers placed a penalty stroke into the left corner of the goal in the 66th minute to score England’s match-winner and secure their second successive semifinal.
The stroke was awarded, leading to vehement protests by the Belgians, when a penalty corner shot struck the defender’s foot on the goal-line. The umpire blew the whistle for a stroke even as Barry Middleton smacked the rebound into the goal. England, who needed a win to overtake Belgium for the second semifinal berth from Group A, were pressing hard after conceding an equalizser just three minutes earlier.
England took the second spot with 10 points, leaving Belgium in the third place on nine points.
Belgium, who needed just a draw to make their maiden semifinals, thought they had done enough to go through when they got the 2-2 equaliser through a penalty corner conversion in the 63rd minute.
But England pressed hard to force the Belgians on the defensive and got the late winner on the penalty stroke.
In the women’s tournament, the USA set up a semifinal encounter with Australia after registering a 4-2 victory over South Africa on Tuesday.
This is only the second time that the Americans have reached the last-four stage. They finished with 13 points from five matches, pushing Argentina into second position.
Defending champions Argentina will face Netherlands in the other semi after drawing 1-1 with China. (PTI)