Netherlands, Germany in Hockey World Cup semis

New Delhi, Mar 9l The Netherlands suffered a 1-2 loss to Asian champions South Korea but still managed to make the semi-finalists with Pool A champions Germany, who are now on course to defend their title with a 5-2 win over New Zeland at the Hockey World Cup here Tuesday.

The Netherlands took an early lead through Ronald Brouwer (1st) before South Korea went ahead with strikes from Nam Hyun Woo (31st) and captain Jong Ho Seo (45th). It was South Korea's fourth consecutive win against the Dutch.

Earlier in the day, Christoph Menke's (15th minute) acrobatic slide and Florian Fuchs' (22nd) penalty corner conversion gave the Germans, who are chasing a hat-trick of world title, a 2-0 lead in the first half. Philip Witte (47th), Moritz Furste (63rd) and Matthias Witthaus (64th) struck in the second half for the Germans. Shea McAleese (51st)
and Nicholas Wilson (54th) were on target for New Zealand.

In the semis Thursday, Germany will take on Euro champions England while Australia will play the Netherlands.

In the last match of the day, a determined Argentina thrashed Canada 4-2 and will meet India for the play-off for the 7-8th place while Canada will face Pakistan for the 11-12th play off.

Argentina took the lead in the 29th minute through Martin Lucas Vila and Matias Parades doubled the lead in the 43rd minute. Thirteen minutes later Nicolas Almada struck to make it 3-0. Canada came back into the game with strikes from Scott Tupper (60th) and David Jameson (65th), but Argentina struck in the last minute through Tomas Innocente Argento to make it 4-2.