Traditional hockey nations Pakistan and India slumped to surprising defeats on Monday at the men's hockey World Cup.

The two, who share 11 Olympic titles, as well as five World Cup championships, continued their disappointing run at the tournament, with Pakistan being stunned 1-0 by Argentina in Pool A while India lost 2-1 against South Korea which has run away with the lead in Group B.

Spain grabbed the lead in Group A with a 3-1 win over New Zealand.

New Zealand coach Kevin Towns was confident his side could beat trans-Tasman rival Australia on Tuesday to be sure of a place in the semi-finals on Friday.

"We are overdue for a win against Australia and they are a weakened team and a very different team, without Matthew Wells and Grant Schubert," said Towns.

Pakistan must win against Australia in its last pool match on Wednesday and hope Spain loses to winless Japan for a place in the last four.

In the second game in Pool B today the Netherlands edged England in a seven-goal thriller, but had to come back from behind to do so.

Richard Mantell and James Tindall gave the English a two goal lead early in the first half, but Teun de Nooijer and Ronald Brouwer equalised matters before the break.

Tindall scored his second shortly after the break to give his side the lead again, but two excellent goals by Taeke Teakema saw the Dutch snatch a dramatic late 4-3 victory that pushes them up to seven points - equal with Germany.

Korea leads Group B with ten points from four matches. The Netherlands and host Germany have seven, but the latter has a game in hand.

AFP