"VAN" (Sports Desk - 30.11.2025) :: India’s roaring victory over Oman stole the thunder on Day 2 of the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025, which saw the hosts and defending champions Germany putting themselves on the verge of sealing direct qualification for the quarter-finals.
Like India, Germany and Switzerland too registered their second consecutive wins in their respective pools, while last edition’s silver-medallist France swept Korea 11-1 to begin their campaign.
Here’s how the goal-fest continued on Saturday, with India leading the charts:
Netherlands vs England (Full-Time Score: 5-3)
Netherlands and England began their quest for a maiden Junior Men’s World Cup title with a keenly-contested Pool E game in Madurai on Day 2, but the Dutch had more gas in the tank towards the end to take home full points with a 5-3 victory.
It remained anybody’s game at half-time, with the scoreboard reading 2-2. Jan van’t Land got Netherlands on the board in the second minute, but England levelled things up with Kaden Draysey’s penalty-corner conversion in the 11th minute. Netherlands restored their one-goal advantage at 2-1 through Casper van der Veen’s goal in the 26th minute but Michael Royden’s strike a minute before half-time squared things up once again.
The Dutch team went ahead in the 39th minute through Joppe Wolbert off a penalty stroke to make it 3-2 and van’t Land’s second goal of the game stretched the lead to 4-2 in the 49th minute. But England reduced that margin with their third goal, coming from George Fletcher, seconds later. However, Danilo Trieling’s 54th-minute strike gave Netherlands breathing space at 5-3 to ward off English attacks in the remaining six minutes.
“I am happy, even though there are a lot of details that we can still work on. I am happy with the performance overall, and it’s a very good start with three points,” said Netherlands coach Jesse Mahieu. “I think we can grow in our defence in the 23 (yard area) and (improve) finishing in the circle. We created quite a few chances that we did not convert. Even though we scored five goals, there are little things that I think we can change and develop to make sure we keep growing in the tournament.”
Malaysia vs Austria (Full-Time Score: 5-1)
Malaysia got the better of Austria in their tournament opener on Saturday, blunting the challenge of their opponents in a comprehensive 5-1 win in Pool E.
The Austrian defence held its ground in a goalless first quarter and conceded just once in the second, as Malaysia went into half-time leading 1-0 after Harris Osman converted a penalty corner in the 28th minute. The third quarter also produced no goals, but Malaysia put their foot on the accelerator in the last 15 minutes, scoring four goals. Danish Khairil scored a brace while Adam Johari and Naaveenesh Panicker struck once each.
Austria’s consolation strike came off the stick of Julian Kaiser from a penalty corner in the fourth quarter.
“We played well today, so we deserved to win. The players followed all the instructions, (executed) the game-plan and we got three points,” said Malaysia captain and ‘Player of the Match’ Khairil. “Maybe we need to improve in terms of scoring as we missed (a few) chances today.”
France vs Korea (Full-Time Score: 11-1)
Arthur Plauche’s hat-trick and a brace each by Gabin Lorrazuri and Victor Saint-Martin launched 2023 runners-up France’s campaign in Pool F with an 11-1 rout of Korea. Eight of the 11 French goals came from open play, highlighting their attacking prowess and Korea’s struggling defence. Saint-Martin converted two penalty corners and Plauche added the other. The lone Korean goal was scored by Gyeonghu Lee.
The other French players who got their names on the scoresheet were Tassilo Sura, Hugo Dolou, Achille Loussif and Arthur Morcrette. While the Korean team has work to do sorting out its defensive structure, failure to convert any of their six penalty corners added to their woes.
“We are really happy with this first game. I think the team played really well. We were focussed from the start of the game, and it’s a very good way to start the Junior World Cup,” said France captain Gaspard Denis, adding that the team will hope to recover well before the big game against Australia.
South Africa vs Ireland (Full-Time Score: 2-1)
South Africa recovered from their 0-4 defeat against defending champions Germany on Day 1 to register a much needed win against Ireland in Madurai. However, they would have hoped to win with a healthier margin than 2-1.
It was Ireland’s first defeat after their narrow win over Canada in Pool A on the opening day, which leaves both Ireland and South Africa with a win and a loss – giving them three points from two matches each.
The game of missed chances remained goalless for 42 minutes, with South Africa breaking the deadlock through Reuben Sendzul’s goal. But before the third quarter ended, Ireland drew level, thanks to Matthew McKee.
The decisive goal came in the 54th minute, when Ross Montgomery put South Africa back ahead and they defended the 2-1 lead until the final hooter to bag much-needed points to stay in the race to advance to the quarters.
“Definitely happy to come away with a win but would have liked to win by a few more goals…still happy with the three points,” said South Africa captain, Daniel Neuhoff. “We weren’t as clinical as we should have been. We had a lot of chances, a lot of short corners, but didn’t convert as we would have liked to and hopefully will come back stronger in the next game…Our goal is to push for qualification to the next round.”
Australia vs Bangladesh (Full-Time Score: 5-3)
Bangladesh’s penalty-corner specialist Amirul Islam almost stole the thunder in the Pool F match at Chennai’s Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium, but Australia’s five goals proved a bit too much as they hung on to win 5-3.
Oliver Will scored in the opening minute for Australia; and despite Bangladesh equalising before the end of first quarter with the first of Amirul’s three goals, the Aussies struck thrice in the second quarter. While Ian Grobbelaar and Dylan Brick scored off penalty corners, Duncan Jackson provided the finishing touch to a field effort.
Bangladesh showed better defensive skills in the third quarter, and Amirul reduced the deficit to 4-2 in 42nd minute. But Daykin Stanger restored Australia’s three-goal advantage six minutes later. The Aussies tightened their defence thereafter, even though Amirul managed to complete his hat-trick in the 59th minute to make it 5-3.
“It’s always nice to win,” said coach Jay Stacy about Australia’s rusty performance. “Bangladesh played very well. We weren’t probably at our best but certainly to collect three points in our first match of the tournament is very important. We need to get better. We’ll do our homework and let’s hope we put up a better performance tomorrow night against France.”
Canada vs Germany (Full-Time Score: 0-7)
The defending champions maintained a clean sheet for the second match in a row, mauling Canada 7-0 after having opened their campaign on Day 1 with a 4-0 win over South Africa. While the victory perched Germany on top of Pool A and virtually assured them of a place in the last-eight stage, Canada’s second defeat eliminated them from the race.
The hero of Germany’s convincing win was their skipper Ben Hasbach, who scored a hat-trick. Canada had no answers to Germany’s precision in both attack and defence, showcased by their clean sheet and six field goals.
Besides Hasbach converting three circle entries into goals, Jonas von Gersum, Ferdinand Steinebach and Alec von Schwerin were the others who provided clinical finishes to attacking moves. However, the Germans could convert only one of their six penalty corners, courtesy Quirin Nahr.
“Offensively we had better combinations in the last quarter…We managed to use (convert) our chances and we’re happy with the result and three points,” said Germany captain Hasbach. “In defence, we had a few misses with the guys, but I think we’ll manage to get this right with some videos (analysis) and hopefully we’ll win our third (pool) game as well. There is no pressure. We are a new, young squad…We want to compete against the best teams in the world and need to beat everyone to win this Cup.”
Chile vs Switzerland (Full-Time Score: 2-3)
Switzerland’s dream Junior Men’s World Cup debut continued on Day 2 of the tournament, as they registered a fighting 3-2 win over Chile, who suffered their second consecutive defeat in Pool B to bow out of contention.
After their confident 4-0 victory over Oman on Day 1, the Swiss team was tested in the cross-continental face-off but kept their cool under pressure to brighten their chances of a place in the quarter-finals.
All three Swiss goals came off set pieces on penalty corners, with Jonathan Baumbach and Jens Fluck scoring in the first and second quarter respectively to make it 2-0 at half-time. Chile’s Tomas Hasson kept his side in the contest with a 37th-minute penalty-corner strike, but a goal from Mattia Ribaudo just before the end of third quarter restored Switzerland’s two-goal lead at 3-1. Felipe Duisberg gave Chile an outside chance by making it 3-2 in the 57th minute, but the Swiss defence held firm in the closing exchanges to ensure victory, with their goalkeeper Timo Graf having an outstanding game.
“It is an amazing feeling to win (again). The boys are fired up, I am fired up. It was kind of a final and we won that final. We have achieved our goal of finishing (at least) second in the group and now we have everything to play for (against India),” said the elated Switzerland captain, Fluck.
Oman vs India (Full-Time Score: (0-17)
India registered the biggest win of the first two days, blanking Oman 17-0 in their second match of Pool B amid heavy rain late on Saturday evening in Chennai. The win included a hat-trick of hat-tricks by India, as three players – Manmeet Singh, Dilraj Singh and Arshdeep Singh – scored three goals each.
The big win put the hosts on top of the pool, leaving their match with fellow unbeaten team of Pool B, Switzerland, to decide who finishes on top to directly qualify for the quarter-finals.
Completing the rout were Gurjot Singh, Ingalemba Luwang, and Ajeet Yadav scoring a brace apiece. Sharda Nand Tiwari and Anmol Ekka got on the goal-scorer’s list once each.
India’s tally of goals scored in the tournament has now grown to 24 in two matches, with neither Chile nor Oman able to breach the home team’s post.
Speaking on the rousing win after the match, Dilraj said: “We never think of scoring more goals against a particular opposition. Going forward and in the quarters, we will focus on converting our chances without thinking how many goals we can score.”
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