Men's Hockey World Cup 2018: Belgium keep India under pressure by beating South Africa 5-1

Men's Hockey World Cup 2018: Belgium’s big victory meant India will have to win their final match against Canada later in the evening to qualify directly for the quarterfinals.

Belgium kept India on their toes by registering a 5-1 victory over South Africa in their final Pool C match of the Hockey World Cup 2018 at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar. Belgium’s big victory meant India will have to win their final match against Canada later in the evening to qualify directly for the quarterfinals. Anything other than a victory would send the hosts to the tricky cross-over round with the second and third positioned teams of other groups. Coming back to the Belgium vs South Africa match, the World No.3 side approached the match with a lot of intent, knowing that they needed to win big to stay with a chance of direct qualification by finishing on top of Pool C. Their big win erased India's four-goal advantage. Currently, both India and Belgium are equal even on goal difference but India manages to beat Canada then they will go through as the No. 1 team. Alxender Hendrickx was again the star of the game. He scored twice – once at the stroke of 1^st quarter and the next one in the 22^nd minute. Simon Gougnard and Loick Luypert were the other goal scorers for Belgium in the first-half. The Olympic silver medallists had taken a 4-1 lead in the first-half itself then Cedric Cylier scored in the final quarter to make 5-1 for Belgium. South Africa, meanwhile, were knocked out of the tournament.