Four stunning goals from Dohyun Lim inspired South Korea to beat Canada 4-1 to revive their chance for the Hockey Men's Junior World Cup (JWC) 2023 quarter-finals at the Bukit Jalil National Hockey Stadium, here today.
It was Canada that drew the first blood when Robin Thind netted a field goal in the 24th minute in the Group C match.
However, the 21-years-old Dohyun ensured the Koreans rebound with goals through a penalty corner in the 37th and 38th minutes, a penalty stroke in the 42nd minute and another penalty corner in the 46th minute to ensure the Koreans bounced back from their 2-4 defeat to India, two days ago.
The world number 11 South Korea, now shares three equal points on goal difference with Spain and India followed by Canada (zero points). India is set to take on Spain later, today.
South Korea’s coach Young Jang said he made it clear to his team that they need to win against Canada to set their foot through the quarter finals.
“There’s no way to go to quarter-finals if we lost to Canada.
So, we had to win this game.
“For the next match, we will meet Spain, we already know the goal difference between my squad and India is big, I will study how they play and my team will try aggressively to win the next match,” he said in the post-match press conference here, today.
For the last Group C match this Saturday, South Korea will play against India.
Based on the tournament format, the top two teams in each group will advance to the quarter-finals.
Meanwhile, in Group D fixture Pakistan whipped New Zealand 4-0 to collect three points to top the Group.
The world number 12th Pakistan scored through Arshad Liaqat’s penalty stroke in the 18th minute before the 20-year-old player doubled their lead via a field goal in the 30th.
Pakistan then scored the third goal through Hannan Shahid’s penalty corner before Arshad completed the stylish victory through another field goal in the 54th minute.
The win saw Pakistan currently leading Group D with four points, followed by Belgium (three points) and the Netherlands with one point, while New Zealand (zero point) is at the bottom.
The match between Belgium and Netherlands this evening will determine whether Pakistan has a chance to reach the quarter-finals. -Bernama