The Netherlands are looking to Kuala Lumpur to end an agonisingly 12 editions of despair in the Men’s Junior Hockey World Cup.
Unlike their women’s junior team, which has been the most successful side, having won four World Cup titles, the men’s juniors have yet to claim the Junior World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 1979.
Chief coach Jesse Mahieu’s team is determined to ensure that the 13th edition of the marquee tournament in 2023 could be the year when the Netherlands win their first men’s Junior World Cup title.
The silver medalist in the 1985 and 2009 championships went on to bronze medals in the 1979 and 2013 events. In the Bhubaneswar 2021 Junior World Cup in India, they were fifth.
The Dutch lost to the Germans 4-1 in the 1985 final in Vancouver, Canada. After a lapse of 24 years, the Netherlands qualified for their second final in 2009 against Germany only to go down 3-1 at the Taman Daya Hockey Stadium in Johor Bahru.
“For some strange reason, the Netherlands have never won the Junior World Cup,” said Mahieu as he watched his players get ready for 90 minutes of training at the National Hockey Stadium on Thursday.
“I hope Kuala Lumpur will be kind to us this time. This will be the third time Malaysia is hosting the World Cup. Although we qualified for the final in 1982 and in 2009, unfortunately, lost 3-1 against Germany again,” said Mahieu.
He said that the team’s training sessions in the Netherlands have been good, but preparations were short due to the domestic national senior league that ended last Sunday.
“The players were involved in the high-level senior domestic league until last Sunday. During the season, we trained on Mondays and Tuesdays, and during the summer, we did a lot of work with them,” he said, adding that humidity and heat here is quite high.
“We are coming straight from the winter season, and the temperature is -2 degrees. But the players should be ready once they acclimatised to the climatic conditions here. That is why we arrived eight days in advance,” he said.
“Normally, they are fit enough to deal with these circumstances, but obviously, for a lot of them, it is a new experience.”
The Netherlands is drawn in Group D with Pakistan, the inaugural junior World Cup champions in 1979, Belgium, and New Zealand. The Dutch face their first litmus test against the Pakistanis on Dec 6 (playoff at 9 am).
The Jong Oranje arrived in KL as the continental champions of Europe at the EuroHockey Junior Championship 2022 in Ghent, Belgium. Miles Bukkens (5 goals) and Duco Telgenkamp (4 goals) top-scored for the Netherlands, helping the team to victories over France (4-3), Austria (7-0), and Spain (3-0). They defeated Germany 3-1 in the final.
Striker Telgenkamp has been making a name for himself with the Netherlands senior side in recent times, finishing top scorer (6 goals) and being named Young Player of the tournament at the EuroHockey Championship 2023 in Mönchengladbach, Germany.
