Friday’s fireworks incredibly sees all four men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship semi-finals still up for grabs on Saturday morning with eight teams still mathematically harbouring hopes of advancing.
Pool A has Germany, Austria and Spain still in contention while no one has been eliminated from contention in Pool B with all five nations harbouring hopes of advancing.
It was pure entertainment from start to finish with Spain running up their second win of Pool A to start the day off with a smart 6-3 result against Switzerland.
Germany then survived the fright of their lives from Croatia when they went 4-1 behind before the accurate shooting of Constantin Staib eventually nudged them ahead in the second half 7-6.
It left Croatia with an all or nothing battle against the Swiss in their last group game but a last minute penalty stroke from Boris Stomps earned the latter an 8-7 win. It means Switzerland stay up and go into the fifth to eighth place playoffs with Croatia facing the ninth-tenth place game.
Closing out Pool A’s action for day two was a 5-5 thriller between Germany and Austria, Daniel Fröhlich’s 39th minute goal earning what could be a vital win.
It leaves both sides on seven points, one above Spain. Germany can secure their place in the final four if they beat Switzerland (9am CET) in the first game on court. Then comes the crucial meeting between Austria and Spain (10.15 CET) where the winner is certain to advance while a draw would also be enough for the Austrians.
Pool B is even more open with every side still in contention. Czechia ignited their challenge in the morning with a 10-2 success against Portugal, lifting them to four points.
Ukraine joined them on that total thanks to a stunning comeback against Poland. The Poles led 4-1 in the 18th minute but eventually succumbed 5-4 with Vitalii Kalinchuk scoring a beautiful winner in the closing minutes.
Portugal turned things around their morning setback with an emotional 6-5 victory against Poland in the evening session. With both sides chasing the win, Rodrigo Castro kept his nerve in the dying moments to flick into an empty net and spark huge celebrations.
And the volume level went up a further notch when Belgium took on Czechia. The Czechs started well, scoring the first two, but a Philippe Simar masterclass swept them away and the Belgian captain scored six times in an 8-2 win.
All sides are still mathematically in the running. Third placed Czechia (4 points) meet fifth placed Poland (3 points) with both needing a win and then for results to go in their favour later in the day. Their contest is at 11.30am (CET).
Then, closing out the group play, Belgium face Ukraine (12.45pm CET). The indoor red lions are the only side with their fate fully in their own hands and a win certainly puts them through. For Ukraine, they will also know what their equation is once they step onto the court.
Portugal currently occupy second in the table but have to wait and see the outcome from the sidelines.
After that, the evening session begins with two matches in the 5th to 8th place playoffs (3.45pm and 5.10pm) before the semi-finals are played at 6.35pm and 8pm (all CET).
The 9th/10th place playoff game concludes the day at 9.25pm and will not be live-streamed.
** You can watch the action live from Leuven from the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship on www.eurohockeytv.org.
** For full match stats, results and tables, go to https://tms.fih.ch/competitions/1548
