Dutch coach Michel van den Heuvel was glad his team made it to the last-four despite losing the last game against Korea.

By Anshul Baijal

The Netherlands made it to the semifinals of the hockey World Cup despite losing their last league game against Korea and coach Michel van den Heuvel was happy to see his team go through.

Despite the loss to Korea in their last league game, the Netherlands coach Michel van den Heuvel was ecstatic to see his team enter the semis.

"I am happy we made it to the semifinals. We played a very good first half, but gave the advantage away in the second half," he said.

Heuvel though admitted that his team was taken aback by the Koreans' pace. "We could not control the game in the second half. It took us some time to get used to the pace at which they played," said Heuvel.

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The Dutch have earned only point in the last two games. They drew against Germany and were outplayed by Korea on Tuesday but Huevel is not worried about his team's form ahead of the semifinals. "I don't think the result of our last two games will have any influence on the next match," he said.

The three-time winners will take on Australia in the last-four clash on Friday and the Dutch coach expects that game to be a cracker. "At that stage of the tournament, you always expect a close game. I think our game against the Aussies will be a keenly-fought contest," said Heuvel.

His Korean counterpart Seok Kyo Shin, meanwhile, was happy that his team bowed out on a high. "I am happy with the way we played. I think this was our best performance so far," said Shin.

But he was quick to admit that they are sad to go back empty handed despite putting up good performances against Germany and Holland. "We played very good games against two top teams but it is a pity we are out," concluded the Korean coach.

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