Hockey Champions Trophy is in full throttle at Breda, Netherlands. The home side are table toppers with two wins under their belt in three matches. Pakistan lose yet another game in their disappointing campaign. Meanwhile, Netherlands won their second match in a nothing contest as the hosts smashed Pakistan in an easy encounter. Netherlands defeated Pakistan with four goals and the visitors had no answers to the commendable display of skill and endurance from the hosts.
This was the third consecutive defeat for Pakistan. They lost to India with the same disappointing scoreline of 4-0 followed by a 2-1 loss against Australia. They came into this match as underdogs and did justice to the tag that they earned.
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Robbert Kemperman and Valentin Verga scored in the first half giving a 2-0 cusion to Netherlands. The goals came in second and fourth quarters respectively. Thijs Van Dam and Micro Pruijser completed the last rites. It’s an irony that the team which won the inaugural Champions Trophy is yet to win a single match. They followed this scintillating performance four years later and then repeated it in the year 1994. Apart from having three titles, they have been runners up for seven times.
Netherlands lost their first game to Argentina in a closely fought battle and followed it with a dominating 6-0 victory against Belgium. This being the last edition of Champions Trophy, the home side will be keen on winning the title. Netherlands, India, Pakistan, Argentina, Australia and Belgium are the six teams participating in this years Champions Trophy.
These six teams will battle to play the grand final on 1st July. As of now India and Netherlands look favorites in the quest of winning the title. Meanwhile, Australia and Argentina are slowly and gradually making it to the top. India will play Australia today at 5 30pm IST.