A hat-trick from Hayden Shaw inspired New Zealand to a 4-3 win over Belgium in their final World Cup pool match in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.
New Zealand's second win from seven matches lifted them to sixth place in pool A.
They willThey will make the ninth-to-12th playoff group, starting tomorrow, provided the
Netherlands beat South Africa.
A South African victory would put New Zealand seventh in their eight-team pool and they would then battle for the 13th-16th classification.
Belgium, who finished without a win, were outclassed in the second spell by the New Zealanders, who led 2-1 at the break. Both goals came from penalty corner flicks by Shaw.
The Canterbury defender repeated the dose 25 minutes into the second half and Umesh Parag followed with a slick goal three minutes later to give New Zealand a 4-1 lead.
Belgium struck back twice through penalty corners inside the last four minutes, which disappointed New Zealand coach Kevin Towns.
"The scoreline sounds a bit nail biting, but really at 4-1 up with four minutes to go the game was in control," Towns said.
"We made a number of substitutions at the end which disrupted our pattern a little bit. But otherwise we're absolutely delighted."
The New Zealanders had been working hard on their penalty corners throughout the tournament, but had not quite found their timing.
"It was very pleasing from our point of view to get it right today," Towns said.
"The Belgians have got a very good keeper, who has held their team together.
"But today Hayden really got on top of things and he was connecting with a lot of power."
Meanwhile, European champions Germany stormed into the semifinals with a 3-2 win over four-time winners Pakistan.
Posting their sixth win in seven preliminary league matches, Germany secured the top spot in pool A with 18 points, dashing Pakistan's hopes of advancing to the top four.
Australia took the top position in pool B, but second pool spots are still to be decided.
- NZPA
