Holland, Australia, Spain and Germany in the semis

Pakistan's pathetic show
With Salman Akbar having an outstanding game under the bar, saving at least six attempts on the Pakistan citadel, for the first time in the whole event, Pakistan really was the superior side for a whole half - the first one. But then the forwards continued to remain errant, and the two short corner goals were not enough against a winning combination that the Dutch have.  
Pakistan went into the break with a most heartening 1-0 lead through a brute of a strike by short corner specialist Muhammad Imran that sailed low and at lightning pace to smash into the backboard.
But missing by the forwards that has been Pakistan's bane in this tournament, came back to haunt it in the second half. As several opportunities went abegging, the Dutch came roaring back through that most fabulous of playmakers, Teun de Nooijer, setting up two goals and Taeke Taekema, already the leading scorer in this Olympic tournament, took his tally to 10 goals from another brace to literally put the game away and pile still more misery on Pakistan.  
The Netherlands equaliser came through a run down the left flank by Nooijer and laying a pass for Matthijs Brower to slam it home from the centre in the 41st minute. Two hot, precision penalty corner conversions 12 minutes apart, in 46th and 58th, Taekema shot Holland into a double lead. Pakistan's midfilder pulled one down with a short corner deflection into the net but that was neutralised by another Nooijer effort that was slammed home by Jeroen Hertzberger with a minute to go.
In the other morning game, Germany saw off New Zealand through goals by captain Timo Wess, Matthias Witthaus and Florian Keller that saw them becoming the first side from pool B to make it to the semis.
Pakistan thus are just one game away from finishing the Games with disappointment writ large at their faces. The most they could now achieve is a seventh position that might entitle them to be the team getting promoted to the Champions Trophy in 2010.
 Meanwhile, they would have to console themselves with crumbs in terms of invitations to second rate tournaments that they are invited to take part in. Not a position to be proud of for a side that was once synonymous to excellence in hockey as Brazil is to soccer.