Netherlands beat Canada 6-0

New Delhi:

Title contenders the Netherlands pumped in six goals in the second half to blank a lowly Canada 6-0 and virtually booked a semifinal berth the hockey World Cup here today. Fourth ranked the Netherlands failed to score in the first half but came back strongly after the break with some attacking hockey and maintained their clean slate in the tournament. The Dutch are at the top of the Pool A with nine points from three matches. Canada are out of contention for a semifinal berth with their third successive loss today. Taek Taekema (41st and 63rd minutes), Rogier Hofman (48th and 56th), Roanld Brouwer (43rd) and Rob Reckers (53rd) scored for the Netherlands under floodlights at the Major Dhyan Chand Stadium here. Taekema's two goals today made him the third most prolific scorer in World Cup history. He is on 19 goals, behind his own countrymen and penalty corner specialists Paul Litjens (26) and Ties Kruize (21). He went past Wolfgang Strodter (18 goals) of erstwhile West Germany, countryman Floris Jan Bovelander (17) and Pakistani Sohail Abbas (17) who had so far scored just one goal from three matches in the ongoing World Cup. The Dutch earned eight penalty corners from which they converted two while Canada failed to get even a single penalty corner.