Adil Al Balushi
Muscat (Oman): Netherlands defeated the hosts Oman 5-3 in semifinals of 2024 FIH Men's Hockey5s World Cup (Oman 2024) on Tuesday to make it to the finals. At the Hockey Oman Stadium in Al Amerat, the national team hockey players delivered a solid performance despite the defeat while the Dutch continued to set the standard for the tournament as the produced a top show. Oman will vie for a bronze medal against the looser of Poland and Malaysia match who played a late match on Tuesday.
Back to Oman and Netherlands game, the hosts Oman were delayed in the first half by 3-0 after Schop Alexander, De Wijn Sander and Van Der Drift Yannick found the target by the half-time break before then extending their lead in the second half to reach an 5-3 victory. Rashad al Fazari and his teammates failed in the first half to convert many scoring attempts to goals following the good saves by Netherlands goalie Schaper Koene. In the second half, Oman head coach Aikman Siegfried instructions to the players to focus more in the attacking side. De Wijn Sander began the second half strongly as he netted the fourth goal for the Netherlands while Rashad al Fazari scored the first Omani goal in this half through filed goal in the 19th minute. Two minutes later, Khalid al Shaaibi added the second goal in style to make it 4-2 before Van Aart Jamie came back again to score the fifth goal in the 23rd minute. Sami al Laun managed to score the concluding goal for Oman to end the game at 5-3 for the Dutch.
Oman beat Kenya (5-2):
Earlier on Tuesday, Oman secured spot in the semifinal after they beat Kenya 5-2 in a thrilling match. The national team players produced an excellent show that confirmed Oman's presence in the last four in a historic achievement. Oman's Rashad al Fazari took the lead for his team after a perfect corner goal in the 9th minute and within the same minute, Khalid al Shaaibi doubled the lead for Oman to 2-0. Masambu Bethuel netted the first goal for Kenya in the 13th minute through field goal to end the first half at 2-1 for the hosts Oman. In the following quarter, Asama Barazhan struck the third goal before Khald al Shabib added two more goals in the 20th and 22nd minute to raise Oman's hopes in advancing to the historic semifinals. Masambu Bethuel managed to score the team's second goal again in the 23rd minute to conclude the match at 5-2.
Netherlands beat India (7-4):
In another match, Netherlands outplayed India 7-4 to book slot in the semifinals. It was a top match for De Wijn Sander and Schop Alexander as they netted two goals each to support their teams to clinch crucial spot to the last four.
