Muscat: Scotland stunned front-runners United States 3-2 to top Pool B and secure the semifinals of the FIH Hockey Men's Nations Cup 2 at the Hockey Oman Stadium on Thursday.
Oman went out fighting to Austria 5-3 in their last match of Pool B. Though Austria reached the same six points as Pool B toppers Scotland and US, they came third on goal difference to miss a last-four spot.
In Pool A, Poland reached the semifinals with an entertaining 2-2 draw against group leaders Egypt.
Scotland players were right on their money when they raced to a 2-0 lead within the first five minutes of their last Pool B match against leaders United States.
Struan Walker struck the opening goal in the second minute itself while Jamie Golden made it 2-0 from a penalty corner in the fourth minute.
The early goals put the United States under pressure but they avoided further damage in the first quarter.
The US players regrouped in the second quarter to stage a brilliant comeback. Sekayi Charasika was on target twice from penalty corners (16th and 28th minutes) as US restored parity before the break.
Walker then netted the decisive goal in the 47th minute to put Scotland in the lead again. The Scots maintained their edge until the close despite US efforts for a third goal.
OMAN FIGHT IT OUT
Hosts Oman put up a brilliant show in their last group match against Austria as they took the lead in the 11th minute when Asama Barazahan struck from a penalty corner.
Sanad al Fazari made it 2-0 from another penalty corner in the 35th minute.
Austria came back strong in the third quarter by scoring three goals and taking the lead.
Nikolas Wellan reduced the deficit in the 39th minute while Fulop Losonci scored from a penalty corner in the 43rd minute and Josef Winkler gave Austrians a 3-2 lead in the 44th minute.
Peter Kaltenbock netted the fourth goal for Austria in the 55th minute while Maitham al Wahaibi pulled one back for Oman in the next minute to make it 4-3. Wellan hit his second goal from a penalty corner in the 57th minute to retain the two-goal lead for Austria at 5-3.
Oman got three penalty corners while Austria gained 10.
POLAND THROUGH TO SEMIS
In Pool A, the draw allowed Poland (five points) to leapfrog China, who beat Chile 2-1, to end up third with four points from three matches.
Poland put out their A game against a strong Egyptian side, who took the lead through a field goal from Ziad Adel in the 11th minute.
Poland mounted a comeback in the second quarter when Maksymilian Koperski struck the equaliser from a penalty corner in the 25th minute.
At the break, the scores were level at 1-1.
After a goalless third quarter, Poland took the lead in the 48th minute when Gracjan Jarzynski found the net after a brilliant move.
It looked like Poland would run away with the match until they conceded a penalty stroke in the last minute of the match. Egypt’s star forward Ahmed El Ganaini made no mistake to snatch the late draw for his team.
Egypt had four penalty corners in the match compared to three for Poland.
Egypt completed the group stage as Pool A toppers with seven points and will take on Pool B second-placed team in the semifinals on Saturday.
CHINA PREVAIL OVER CHILE
In the second Pool A match, China came back from a one-goal deficit to prevail over Chile 2-1.
With their semifinal hopes ended after Poland and Egypt shared points, China were given an early shock when Chile hit the first goal through Luis Valenzuela in the ninth minute.
Chile defended well until the half-time as they maintained their 1-0 lead.
China struck the equaliser first minute into the second half after Jingwen Deng found the net.
China created more attacks after the goal but Chile were resilient to deny the Chinese.
In the last quarter, Yuanlin Lu broke the Chile defence with a brilliant field goal in the 49th minute.
China kept their 2-1 lead in the final minutes as Chile ended with no points in Pool A.
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