AMSTERDAM: The Netherlands continued their build-up for the European Championship with a 4-0 victory over Pakistan that saw them claim the Four Nations tournament, which also included England and Germany.
The English, who are the current European champions, came back twice to beat the Germans 3-2 and take second spot, while reigning Olympic champions Germany came third ahead of the winless Pakistanis.
Holland, who came third behind Australia and Germany at last year’s World Cup, were out of the blocks early with Jeroen Hertzberger putting them ahead in the 10th minute.
Pakistan, though, were angered by the quickly taken sideline injection by Floris Evers that led to the goal.
Roderick Weusthof grabbed a second on 27 minutes with a penalty flick but there was more controversy ahead of the Netherlands’ third, which came on the stroke of half-time.
The game was held up as the Pakistanis protested against a Dutch penalty corner as the half-time hooter sounded. Weusthof converted to make it 3-0 at the break.
“Our target was to score three more goals in the second half but the energy went out of the game and I think Pakistan gave up on the game a little,” said Netherlands coach Paul van As.
Dutch keeper Klass Veering saved two penalty corners in the second half, Hertzberger adding a fourth in the 57th minute with a rebound off the pads of Salman Sakbar.
“We managed to hurt them with our early goal and they did not hurt us in any way in the match,” added van As.
“We did a tremendous job in the first half and I was very pleased with our performance there.”Pakistan manager Khawaja Junaid said his team lost heart after the first goal.
“That was the time when it became difficult to implement our plan,” he said.
“But we played well in patches and had many chances in the second half which we could not put away.”
Earlier, England produced a gutsy performance to come back twice from a goal down to beat Germany 3-2.
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