EuroHockey U21 Championship Men & Women, Terrassa – day two round-up
The Netherlands (pictured above) survived an almighty scare to secure their place in the women’s EuroHockey U21 Championship semi-finals, becoming the first side to confirm a Junior World Cup ticket in the process.
They defeated Belgium 5-4 with the Young Red Panthers now needing a draw or better against Spain on Wednesday to join them in the final four. The Spaniards defeated France 4-0.
On the boys side, Pool A is shaping up nicely. France lead Belgium on goal difference after the former snatched an incredible 4-4 draw against Germany in a repeat of the 2023 Junior World Cup final.
Belgium won 8-1 against Türkiye to sit on four points with the Germans in third on two points.
Day three in Terrassa has four games worth of Pool B action. It starts at 10.00 CET with Ireland facing Austria in the women’s competition, followed by England against Germany at 12.15 CET.
The evening session focuses on the boys with Ireland meeting England at 17.00 CET and Spain taking on the Netherlands at 19.15 CET. All four games will be broadcast live on www.eurohockeytv.org.
Men
Belgium registered a strong 8-1 win over a much-improved Türkiye, lifting them to four points after two matches in the group.
Hugo Labouchere’s drag-flick set them on their way and Jean Clotens bundled in another from their second corner. The Turks, however, got one back following a beautiful move down the left, Orhan Polat wrong-footing the goalkeeper for 2-1.
But the Young Red Lions were 3-1 up before the end of Q1 when Samuel Malherbe’s acrobatic overhead made it over the line and Oliver Vanderkeilen got the fourth from left baseline in the second quarter.
They subsequently pulled away in the second half with further goals from Jean Clotens, Labouchere, Malherbe and Thomas Crols.
A day one from inflicting late pain on France, Germany suffered the same fate with just 12 seconds to go as the pair ended up drawing 4-4.
The Germans were cruising for large parts of the game. The Eagles led with Ben Hasbach finishing from close range in the eighth minute but Tom Gaillard’s clever corner move levelled it soon after.
Hasbach, though, turned provider with a brilliant pass from the left which Leon Lindemann slide onto for 2-1.
Hasbach then added two more in the second quarter, the first a tap-in after Michel Struthoff’s beautiful close skills, and his third of the game was glorious individual skill, bouncing and juggling the ball into the net.
The French comeback started 80 seconds into the second half from a penalty corner via a Victor Saint-Martin drag-flick and it was game on when Malo Martinache picked out James Liddiard for a beautiful deflection goal.
And that was how it stayed until just seconds from the end when Erwan Brodt picked up a loose ball far out on the right and his shot made it all the way through a packed circle.
The draw keeps France top of the table, now on goal difference ahead of Belgium, on four points with Germany on two points. The French face Belgium next while the Germans meet Türkiye on Wednesday.
Women
The Netherlands won a wild Pool A encounter with Belgium 5-4, just about holding their rivals at bay to make it two wins from two in Pool A.
A heavily deflected Imke Verstraeten penalty corner goal and another from a set piece variation by Mette Winter has the Dutch cruising in the first quarter. Winter set up Mea de Vries to grow the lead further for 3-0 at half-time.
Marthe-Marie Geerts got the Young Ped Panthers on the scoreboard early in the second half but the Dutch were seemingly only suffering a minor setback as Noor van de Nieuwenhof restored the three-goal gap.
But Geerts was once again in the right place to walk in her side’s second goal as they found space right through the middle. And it was fully back in the mix with seven minutes to go when the Belgians turned over possession on halfway and found Geerts unmarked, her rocket of a shot completing her hat trick.
The game was settled, however, when Trijntje Beljaars was taken out when through on goal and van den Nieuwenhof scored the resulting penalty stroke.
Astrid Bonami did slot home a stroke with 42 seconds to go but the Dutch held on for the win in the final reckoning and top spot after two rounds.
In the evening’s second game, Spain won well against France to set up a showdown with Belgium for the second semi-final spot on offer from Pool A.
Lucía Casado’s corner sweep took a big defensive touch to loop in and make it 1-0 to the Spaniards. Estel Petchamé took the long handle out to hit the ball into the bottom left corner and 2-0 at half-time.
She also hit the third goal from a corner, this time off a switch to the right of the circle and Casado closed out the 4-0 result in the closing minute.
