Malaysia’s Kuala Lumpur city: Following their respective opponents’ crushing victories here at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium on Friday, the reigning champions Argentina, France, Germany, and Australia secured significant victories in the ongoing Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup 2023.
France beat South Africa (5-4):
In the most exciting match of the day, France defeated South Africa 5–4 with nine goals scored in the first half. France scored two field goals in the opening four minutes while South Africa was still reeling from the start whistle. There was a brief period of relative calm in the game before South Africa’s field goal reply in the 14th minute brought it back to a frenetic fervour. South Africa then scored a penalty corner of their own in the same minute that France converted their own, giving them a 3-1 lead.
Germany beat Egypt (10-0):
Germany defeated the Egyptian team by ten goals, winning the most devastating match of the day despite Argentina’s eight goal victory margin. The Germans scored ruthlessly often, obviously trying to outscore their opponents in the quarterfinals. With two goals in every quarter (apart from the second, when four players crossed Egypt’s goal line), Germany finished the pool stage with impressive style. The Germans scored five field goals and five penalty corners in addition to five unconverted penalty corners to reach an impressive ten.
Despite winning two penalty corners—one in the third and one in the fourth quarter—the Egyptians were unable to capitalise. Despite his hat-trick, Nikas Berendts was not named player of the match by Florian
Argentina beat Chile (8-0):
Argentina, the defending champions, dominated Chile 8-0 in Kuala Lumpur, carrying on their flawless pool stage performance. In the first three quarters, the Chileans did a respectable job of controlling the score, ending the third quarter with a mere 3-0 lead. But, in the fourth and final quarter, the floodgates opened. With five more goals to go, the defending champions led 8-0, with Cappuro Bautista’s hat-trick capping an outstanding goal-scoring effort
Australia beat Malaysia (5-2)
In their last group match against Malaysia, Australia asserted their dominance early on, leading 3-0 at the end of the first quarter. After converting two penalty corners and scoring a field goal, Malaysia was unable to compete in the remaining three quarters. Even after Malaysia pulled one back in the twenty-first minute, Australia’s response six minutes later restored their three-goal advantage.
Similar to this, in the third quarter, Malaysia tied the score at two goals with a field goal in the 44th minute, but the Australians took the lead back with a penalty corner a minute later. Australia won 5-2 and held onto the lead they had taken from the opening quarter thanks to goals
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