AMSTELVEEN: Pakistan and Wales played out a thrilling 3-3 draw in the Pool D encounter of the FIH Hockey World Cup 2026 at the Wagener Hockey Stadium on Monday.
The Green Shirts were unable to close out the game in the final quarter despite having a 3-2 lead. For Pakistan, Abdul Rehman, Sufyan Khan, and Hannan Shahid scored the goals.
The match turned into a heated contest as tensions between the both teams flared on numerous occasions.
The four-time champions Pakistan opened the scoring in the second minute, courtesy of Rehman’s brilliance.
After taking an early lead, Pakistan managed to keep Wales away at the end of the first quarter, while Sufyan received the first green card of the match in the eighth minute of the game.
The second quarter belonged to the 15th-ranked Wales, who made a strong comeback with a double in the 24th and 25th minutes, respectively. Defender Gareth Furlong broke the deadlock, followed by Rhys Bradshaw’s goal.
Consequently, Wales finished the second quarter with a 2-1 lead.
The Green Shirts were in search of their second goal in the third quarter, but Wales managed to keep their lead intact.
In the final quarter, the game moved helter-skelter, with the pendulum swinging back and forth between the two teams. Sufyan finally found the net in the 48th minute for his side’s second goal. Soon after, Hannan put his side ahead with another goal.
Yet, Gareth capitalized on a penalty corner to make it a 3-3 in the 52nd minute of the
Pakistan will now face arch-rivals in a do-or-die encounter on 19 August.
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