Hockey World Cup 2023, Day 7 Round-up: AUS, BEL sail into quarters; FRA, ARG, GER, KOR to fight in cross-overs

Hockey World Cup 2023: The Day 7 actions are done. In Group A, Australia thrashed South Africa 9-2, while France held Argentina 5-5. In Group B, Belgium hammered Japan 7-1, while Germany trounced South Korea 7-2.

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The 2023 FIH Men's Hockey World Cup is continuing, with the Day 7 commitments being held on Friday. The day's opening contest was from Group D as Australia took on South Africa at the Birsa Munda International Hockey Stadium in Rourkela. At the same time, the former came up with a thumping performance to drub the latter 9-2, sailing into the quarterfinal. As for the Australian goal scorers, they were Blake Govers (4th, 15th, 19th and 20th), Tom Craig (10th), Jake Harvie (22nd), Daniel Beale (28th), Jeremy Hayward (32nd) and Tim Brand (47th), while for the South Africans, Nqobile Ntuli (27th) and Tevin Kok (58th) were the scorers.

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The match saw a couple of bookings, both coming for SA, as Nicholas Spooner was yellow-carded in the 33rd minute while Ntuli was green-carded in the 48th. The victory allows the Kangaroos to finish atop the table, while the South Africans have been knocked out entirely and would be headed for home.

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In the other Group A match at the same venue, France went up against Argentina, which turned out to be a competitive encounter, with both sides settling for a 5-5 draw. The Argentines opened the scoring through Nicolas Keenan (3rd), followed by Nicolas della Torre (34th, 42nd and 60th) and Martin Ferreiro (51st).

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For the French, Etienne Tynevez (21st) opened the scoring and was followed by skipper Victor Charlet (36th, 38th, 49th and 60th). The game saw three bookings for France, with Mattéo Desgouillons, Gaspard Xavier and Timothée Clement seeing the green card in the 24th, 43rd and 49th minute, respectively. The result means the Argentines and the French are placed second and third, respectively, and would clash in the cross-overs for a place in the quarters.

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Belgium took on Japan at the same venue when moving to the Group B commitments. The former devised a ruthless performance to drub the latter 7-1. As for the Belgian goal-scorers, they were Cédric Charlier (18th), Tom Boon (22nd, 27th, 28th, 51st and 56th) and Sébastien Dockier (52nd). For the Japanese, Kentaro Fukuda was the only lad to have found the net for a consolation in the 46th minute, while the match also witnessed no bookings for either side. Consequently, Belgium sailed directly into the quarters with this victory, topping the group, while Japan was ousted entirely.

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The final action of the day and the group stage was from Group B, as South Korea faced off against Germany at the same venue again. The latter came out on top with a commanding 7-2 triumph. The German goalscorers were Niklas Wellen (9th, 17th and 41st), Gonzalo Peillat (51st), skipper Mats Gurmbusch (53rd) and Moritz Ludwig (53rd).

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The two goals for the Koreans arrived from Jonghyun Jang, who scored his brace in the 15th and 60th minutes. There were three bookings during the match, with Korea's Woo Cheon Ji being green-carded on the 29th, while Germany's Tom Grambusch and Timur Oruz saw the same colour on the 14th and 27th, respectively. The result is insignificant to both sides, as they will have to fight it out in the cross-overs for a place in the quarters.