FIH WC: Malaysia, Netherlands, France move up with important wins

Bhubaneswar/Rourkela: Day 4 of the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup promised close contests as teams started to get a clearer picture of the results, they needed to reach the targets they had set for the pool stages.
Malaysia versus Chile in Pool C and France versus South Africa in Pool A were crucial contests in terms of avoiding a fourth-place finish, which rules teams out of the quarterfinal’s contention, as all of these four teams had lost their first matches at the World Cup.
Malaysia was the first team to get on the board on Monday, coming back from a goal down twice to beat Chile 3-2.
France would replicate them later in the day winning another close contest against South Africa to register their first points in Pool A.
In the battle of the unbeaten teams, Netherlands made light work of New Zealand beating them 4-0, making it two wins in two matches. The Netherlands reached 6 points and now need just a draw in their final game against Chile to confirm their spot at the top of Pool C and earn a direct entry into the quarterfinals.
In Pool A, Argentina and Australia played a highly entertaining draw where the momentum swung from one side to the other.
Australia was down 3-2 with just 2 minutes remaining, but Blake Govers, returning from injury, stepped up when it mattered and scored a fantastic goal to keep Australia at the top of the pool, thanks to their vastly superior goal difference.