Bhubaneswar: England came from a goal down to draw 1-1 against Belgium and top Pool A in the Hero Champions Trophy hockey tournament at the Kalinga Stadium, here on Tuesday.
England finished on top of Pool A with seven points from three games with two wins and a draw, while Belgium ended on second spot with five points by virtue of one victory and two draws.
Belgium scored through Amaury Keusters (9th minute), while England’s goal came from the sticks of Iain Lewers in the 48th minute.
However, it was the Red Lions who took the lead in the first quarter through an unmarked Keusters, who scored past England goalie George Pinner with a powerful backhand shot after receiving a clever pass from Tanguy Cosyns.
But England came back strongly in the second quarter and had the better share of chances.
Strikers Ollie Willars and Sam Ward got two great opportunities to restore parity for England but on both occasions their efforts were brilliantly saved by Vincent Vanash in front of Belgium goal.
Bad luck continued to haunt England as drag-flick specialist Ashley Jackson hit the upright from a penalty corner before they wasted a penalty stroke.
England were awarded a penalty stroke at the stroke of half-time when Samuel Ward was fouled inside the circle by a Belgian defender, but they squandered the opportunity as Lewers struck the metal-work to go into the breather trailing by a goal. Thereafter both the teams tried hard for the winner but failed to break each other’s defence to end the pool stages on unbeaten note.
England will now play the bottom-placed team of Pool B in the quarterfinal, while Belgium will be up against the third-placed side of Pool B in the next round.
World Cup bronze medallist Argentina stunned Olympic champions Germany 3-0 in their final Pool B match to end their league engagements on a high at the Hero Champions Trophy hockey on tuesday.
With this win the Argentines ended their pool engagements with six points from two wins, while Germany finished with just three points, courtesy the close 1-0 win over India.
After a barren first quarter, Argentina scored three field goals through captain Matias Parades (18th minute), Joaquin Manini (25th) and Ignacio Ortiz (49th) to register the convincing win.
After an action less first quarter, Argentina raised their game and took the lead through Parades.
Argentine drag-flicker Gonzalo Peillat then forced German goalie Felix Reuss to make a diving save before Manini continued his impressive show with a brilliant goal to the top corner of the German net after being fed by Parades to race to a 2-0 lead at the halfway mark.
The Germans took the initiative in the third quarter and created a couple of good openings but the Argentine defence stood tall to thwart any danger to their goal.
Argentina tripled their lead in the 49th minute when they caught the German defence off-guard with a brisk counter-attack and Ortiz scored past Reuss to assert their supremacy in the game. (PTI)