Men’s EuroHockey U21 Championship (Valencia, Spain) – day 5 round-up
The Netherlands and Germany set up a classic men’s EuroHockey U21 Championship decider as they will battle for gold and silver for the eighth time when they meet on Saturday.
The Dutch saw off Belgium 2-1 with Joppe Wolbert’s penalty corner shot the decisive factor in the 43rd minute.
After that, they survived a huge onslaught from the Belgians who camped in their 23-metre zone but could not find the crucial touch with Dierderick van den Hoek making some supreme saves.
Lucas Corstens gave the Dutch a great start just before the end of the first quarter when he intercepted close to halfway and burst into the circle, his clip hit fizzing into the net.
Belgium responded well and created plenty of good chances before eventually getting level in the second half through Jules De Cleene. A long ball made it all the way through to him on the right baseline where he calmly controlled and slipped past the goalkeeper at the near post.
But the Dutch settled and took their chance from their second corner of the contest for 2-1.
Germany joined them in the final when they won a shoot-out against Spain in a repeat of the Junior World Cup final with Ben Hasbach looking the calmest person in the Tarongers stadium.
He slotted an equalising shoot-out to send it to sudden death and then slotted the winner to earn a 2-1 win having scored a hat trick in normal time which ended 3-3.
Hasbach opened the scoring from a stroke, an advantage which only lasted until the 18th minute when Andrés Medina flicked in from a corner.
A second Hasbach stroke and then a classy finish from a turnover deep in Spanish territory seemingly put the Germans out of sight at 3-1 with six minutes to go.
But Sant Martín found the tiniest gap at the left post to sweep in and then Pau Gesti scored in the last minute to earn the shoot-out chance.
There, Diego Palomero saved the first four efforts to give Spain a narrow 1-0 lead via Juan Vilallonga but Hasbach levelled in round five and the won it a few moments later.
The final will be at 17.40 (CEST) on Saturday with the bronze match between Belgium and Spain taking place at 11.50 (CEST).
In Pool C, the battle for the two remaining Junior World Cup tickets remains live as Austria fought back from 2-1 down to beat Switzerland 3-2 with goals from Max Meisel, Julian Kaiser and – in the 55th minute – from Adrian Fink.
It outdid two goals from Léonhard Kraxner and means Switzerland are now out of contention for a top six finish.
England struck late to keep alive their chances as they drew with France 1-1 with Kaden Draysey scoring four minutes from the end. Gabriel Piole’s first half goal had France leading until deep in the second half.
It means Austria and France – who meet on Saturday – sit on four points while England are on two and needing a win over Switzerland to avoid.
