Attacking France scripted an emphatic 4-2 victory against Chile in a 13th to 16th place classification match of the FIH Odisha Men’s Hockey World Cup 2023 at the Birsa Munda Stadium in Rourkela on Saturday.
While, Victor Charlet (two goals in 17th minute) scored a brace, Curty Eliot (13th minute) and Xavier Gaspard (42nd minute) found the back of the net once each for the winning team. Becerra Franco (20th) and Pizarro Andres (53rd minute) struck one each for Chile.
France were clearly the dominant side from the word go. They stamped their authority on the opposition and Curty Eliot opened the team’s account in the 13th minute with a fierce hit from the left flank.
They continued with the surge in the second half and created two penalty corner (PC) opportunities in the 17th minute. Victor Charlet grabbed both the chances and converted them into goals to increase the lead to 3-0. Chile got one back in the 20th minute with Becerra Franco capitalizing on a PC in the 20th minute. The score-line was 1-3 after the end of the first half.
France continued to surge ahead in the third quarter and earned another PC in the 36th minute, but could not capitalise on the opportunity. Xavier Gaspard sounded the board in the 42nd minute to make the lead 4-1 in their favour.
In the fourth quarter, Chile put up a brave face to give some tough fight to the opposition. Pizarro Andres found the back of the net in the 53rd minute to reduce the margin to 4-2.