Spain won the men’s EuroHockey U21 Championship for the fourth time with a breathtaking 3-1 final win over the Netherlands.
Beautiful second half goals from Pere Amat and Nicolas Alvarez saw them delight a huge crowd at Atlètic Terrassa’s Can Salas, all enjoying a perfect night of evening entertainment.
They had fallen behind in just the second minute when Pepijn van der Heijden’s powerful drag-flick wrong-footed goalkeeper Jan Capellades. It would be the only time he was defeated as he put in an incredible performance, one which helped him win goalkeeper of the tournament.
Spain began to up the tempo in the second quarter and they got back level thanks to Bruno Avila’s drag-flick, 1-1 at the long interval.
And then the game was lit up by a piece of individual brilliance from Amat, dribbling around several sticks before slotting the ball under the Dutch goalkeeper to make it 2-1 in the 38th minute.
The Netherlands fought back, forcing numerous big stops from Capellades who used every part of his clothing to make the stops.
On the counter, Spain got their clinching goal, Pablo Espino delivering the perfect cross for a diving Alvarez to touch in at the back post.
The Netherlands threw everything forward but they got no change from the Spanish defence who landed a famous victory.
Nicolas Bogaerts’ goal 26 seconds from time saw Belgium complete a remarkable comeback to defeat Germany and claim the bronze medal.
Peer Hinrichs cleaned up a fifth minute chance and then Ben Hasbach scored his 11th goal of the competition for 2-0 in the first ten minutes.
Lucas Balthazar’s corner rocket got Belgium on the scoreboard but when Paul Glander scored at the far end early in the second half, Germany looked good at 3-1 up.
Hugo Labouchere started the comeback with a corner and Samuel Malherbe levelled the game with a true forward’s goal for 3-3. And Bogaerts won it in brilliant fashion when he collected a rebound at the top of the circle and rifled it into the roof of the goal for 4-3.
In Pool C, France guaranteed they would play in the next edition of the Euro U21 with a 4-1 win over Ireland. The Irish only needed a draw but they were under pressure throughout the first half, needing a big defensive performance.
Hugo Verrier broke the deadlock in the 38th minute but Matthew McKee equalised quickly. But France never looked back once Victor Saint-Martin nailed a corner in Q3; Arthur Plauche and Tom Gaillard tacked on two more to also confirm their Junior World Cup place.
That result meant England needed to avoid a heavy defeat to Türkiye to get their Euro and World Cup tickets. They never looked in any danger as they scored six times in the first half in a 9-0 win with Henry Markham netting four times.
Final standings
- Spain
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Germany
- England
- France
- Ireland
- Türkiye
