The Netherlands will face underdogs New Zealand in the summit clash of the Hero Hockey World league Final tomorrow after the two teams eked out hard-fought wins over world champions Australia and England at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium, here today.
The Netherlands defeated Australia 4-3 in a thrilling second semifinal after New Zealand pipped out England 7-6 via penalty shoot-out in a keenly contested first semi-final match.
The first semifinal went into the penalty shoot-out after both teams finished at 3-3 in regulation time.
Ric Charlesworth's Australia will now face fourth ranked England in the third-fourth place play-off match tomorrow.
In the second semifinal, Constantijn Jonker (12th minute) opened the scoring for the Netherlands at the beginning of the first half when his reverse stick shot found its way into the back of the Australian net.
The Kookaburras struggled to create serious opportunities in the early stages while the Dutch took their chances and doubled their lead through Mink van der Weerden's (20th) dragflick from penalty corner that left the Aussie custodian Tyler Lovell stranded to tak 2-0 lead at the half-way mark.
After the change of ends, Australia came out like a wounded tiger and scored their first goal through Kieran Govers (42nd) who converted a penalty corner.
Five minutes later, Russell Ford (47th) levelled the proceedings to 2-2 by deflecting home a long pass.
The world champions fought hard to take the lead for the first time in the match, courtesy Govers (55th) who fired home another penalty corner.
This, incidentally, was Govers' sixth goal in this competition making him the new top-scorer in the eight-nation event. Jeroen Hertzberger (62nd) brought the Netherlands back into the match by equalising from open play.
With four minutes remaining Van der Weerden (66th) put the game beyond Australia's reach when he converted his second penalty corner of the day.
