Five European sides have made it through to the quarter-finals of the men’s Junior World Cup in Tamil Nadu following five days of lively group action.
These include table-toppers Germany, Spain, the Netherlands and France along with Belgium who finished as one of the best runners-up from the six groups.
They all now advance to the final eight phase which takes place on Friday in Madurai.
Spain will take on New Zealand after they topped their group with three wins from three, finishing off with a 13-0 win over Namibia having earlier beaten the Belgians 2-0.
For Belgium, they knew they needed a big score to advance in second spot and duly beat Egypt 10-0 to boost their goal difference to set up a game against India.
France and Germany will meet in a replay of the 2023 final after both impressed in the group stages. The French swept aside Australia 8-3 with a super second half display in between wins over Bangladesh and Korea to win their pool.
The Germans, meanwhile, were too strong for Ireland, South Africa and Canada.
For the Netherlands, their next challenge is against Argentina after their three group wins, the crucial one being their 5-3 success against England in game one.
Elsewhere, Switzerland impressed with two wins in their group phase but ultimately missed out on goal difference after a loss to India in their third game.
They will playoff for ninth to 16th place with a first game against Ireland; England play Chile in this phase while Austria take on Namibia in the 17th to 24th place playoffs.
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