Hockey World Cup 2018: 3 Reasons why Netherlands won against Canada

#2 A fierce attacking masterclass from Netherlands

The attacking outfit comes to Netherlands' rescue

Another reason for Netherlands having won the match against Canada without any sweat was their fierce attacking outfit.

Ironically, it was only the attack of the Dutch team that actually worked against the Canadian outfit.

Contrary to the previous matches, Netherlands literally struggled throughout the match. Despite having made a whopping 38 circle penetrations, of which 20 shots were aimed at the goal, the Dutch could only convert five of them into goals, and that too with the help of the attacking forwards and midfielders.

In contrast to the field goals, Netherlands couldn't convert a single penalty corner out of the four that they earned.

To make matters worse, they even failed to convert the lone penalty stroke that they received.

Had it not been for Thijs Van Dam, Theirry Brinkman and Robbert Kempermann, Netherlands could've faced the ignominy of battling it out for the quarterfinals in a penalty shootout against Canada.