Hockey World Cup 2010: Day 7 & 8 Updates

Each team played a match over the weekend, making standings even more clear. The Netherlands, Germany, England and Australia seem to be the 4 teams who will progress to the next stage, but all teams still have a match in hand, so anything is possible. For more about field hockey, do read field hockey rules.

For previous day's happenings and standings, read:

• Hockey World Cup 2010: Day 3 Updates
• Hockey World Cup 2010: Day 4 Updates
• Hockey World Cup 2010: Day 5 Updates
• Hockey World Cup 2010: Day 6 Updates

Australia 2 Spain 0
A muchneeded win for Australia, and with this 2:0, they are almost in the semi-final, thanks to their awesome goal difference. Spain, on the other hand, one feels, is a very good team that may miss out on a semi-final berth.

South Africa 4 Pakistan 3
South Africa beating Pakistan 4:3 must be the biggest upset of the 12th FIH World Cup. Just goes to show that the Asian teams are way behind now on fitness and strategy.

England 3 India 2
England managed to hold off a spirited India 3:2 and remain the only team in the tournament with an all win record, and thus became the first team to qualify for the semi-final. India's third loss in a row must have left the home crowd truly disappointed.

Korea 9 Canada 2
Canada were steamrolled by Korea 9:2, and this still allows Korea a chance to go through to the next stage. Canada, on the other hand have a long way to go in international hockey, and the 2 biggest defeats in this tournament must not have done them much good.

New Zealand 0 Argentina 1
A win for New Zealand here would have taken them up the table right into 2nd place, even ahead of Germany, but Argentina played spoil sport and registered their first win of the tournament 1:0.

Germany 2 Netherlands 2
The top 2 teams of Pool B battled hard and ended up with a 2:2 draw. Both teams took home 1 valuable point each. This leave Pool A still wide open, and a lot depends on the last matches in this pool to determine the top 2 teams.

Pool A Standings

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	GF	GA	GD
Netherlands	4	3	1	0	10	14	3	11
Germany	4	2	2	0	8	14	7	7
Korea	4	2	1	1	7	14	7	7
New Zealand	4	2	0	2	6	6	7	-1
Argentina	4	1	0	3	3	5	9	-4
Canada	4	0	0	4	0	4	24	-20

(Top 2 teams qualify for the semi-final)

Pool B Standings

Team	Played	Won	Drawn	Lost	Points	GF	GA	GD
England	4	4	0	0	12	17	10	7
Australia	4	3	0	1	9	21	5	16
Spain	4	2	0	2	6	10	8	2
India	4	1	0	3	3	10	14	-4
Pakistan	4	1	0	3	3	8	14	-6
South Africa	4	1	0	3	3	10	25	-15

(Top 2 teams qualify for the semi-final)

Stay tuned for updates of the 3 matches to be played on day 9...
Spain vs England (Pool B)
Australia vs Pakistan (Pool B)
South Africa vs India (Pool B)

My predictions: Spain, Australia and India will take home max points from these last Pool B encounters.