While India beat Belgium by a solitary goal in the quartefinals, Germany eked out a narrow 3-1 win over Spain in the shoot-out after both the teams were locked at 2-2 in regulation time.

India has also beaten Belgium 2-1 in the final enroute to their title triumph in the last edition in Lucknow in 2016 and continued their domination over the European side in junior hockey.

Shardananad Tiwari’s penalty corner conversion in the 21st minute was enough for India to book their last four meeting with Germany, who were last edition’s bronze medallist.

In their quarterfinal meeting with Spain, Germany took the lead from a penalty stroke through Christopher Kutter in the fifth minute but the lead was short-lived as Ignacio Abajo equalised for Spain from a penalty corner six minutes later.

After two barren quarters, it was Spain who shocked the Germans in the 59th minute when Eduard de Ignacio-Simo scored a fine field goal to give his side the lead.

However, there was more drama in store at the stroke of the hooter as Germany secured a penalty corner and Masi Pfandt stepped up to take the match into a shoot-out

In the shoot-out, Paul Smith, Michel Struthoff and Hannes Muller found the back of the net, while Matteo Poljaric missed. Spain were awful from the one-on-one situation as Abajo, Guilermo Fortuno and de Ignaci-Simo missed while only Gerard Clapes scored.

Germany are the most successful team in the history of the Junior World Cup having won the tournament six times. The Germans won consecutive titles in 2009 and 2013 in New Delhi, which was their last crown.

India, on the other hand, are the second most successful team, having won the junior world cup crown two times, first in 2001 and then in 2016.

This will be their third meeting in a semifinal of the Junior Hockey World with India winning on both previous occasions, beating Germany 3-2 in 2001, when they went on to lift the title and defeating the Germans 4-3 after extra time in 1997, when they lost the final to Australia.

However, Germany then known as West Germany defeated India 4-3 and 3-0 in the group stages of the 1985 and 1982 Junior World Cups respectively.

India and Germany will now battle it out for a place in the finals, where they could face the winner of the semifinal between France and Argentina. While Argentina got the better of Netherlands 2-1 in the last 8, France thumped Malaysia 4-0 to reach the last 4.

Junior Hockey World Cup 2021 Semifinal Schedule and Telecast Info

Semifinal Date: Friday, December 3

4-30 PM IST: Argentina vs France

7-30 PM IST: India vs Germany

Live Telecast: Star Sports Network

Argentina vs France – Star Sports 3

India vs Germany – Star Sports 1 and Star Sports 1HD

Live Streaming: Disney+HotStar and watch.hockey