Men’s EuroHockey Championship Qualifier I (Rome, Italy)

Switzerland will play Czechia for fifth place on Sunday at the men’s EuroHockey Championship Qualifier I in Rome after they won their respective classification matches against Türkiye and Ukraine.

The Swiss eased to a 7-0 win over Türkiye with the goals spread around seven different players. Matthias Morhauer thrashed in the first goal when the ball broke kindly for him at the top of the circle.

Léonhard Kraxner’s powerful shot was quickly followed by a neat deflection goal from Valentin Gloor, making it 3-0 at half-time.

Loris Grandchamp’s penalty stroke kept the goals flowing and Lorenz Gassner, Jens Flück and Clemént Thijs all netted in the last quarter for a comprehensive result.

Lukáš Plochý netted four times as Czechia also ran up seven goals as they defeated Ukraine 7-2. It lifted his personal tally to 84 in 84 outdoor caps.

He started the ball rolling when he guided in a Josef Toms cross; Toms’ reverse-stick shot found its way over the line for 2-0 but Vitalii Shevchuk cut the gap by half-time with a tap-in from a corner rebound.

Maksym Onofriiuk got a great diving touch to equalise at 2-2 but they ran out of gas after that as the Czechs piled on the goals.

Plochý’s drag flick was soon followed by a stroke for a 4-2 lead; Jakub Homolka’s brilliant shot from wide on the right of the D added another and Plochý’s fourth made it 6-2 in Q. Štěpán Lalík capitalised on space late in the game for the seventh.

The tournament closes tomorrow with Türkiye playing Ukraine at 9.15 for seventh; Switzerland meet Czechia at 11.30 before Croatia take on Portugal for bronze at 13.45. The tournament closes with the final at 16.00 (all times CEST) between Scotland and Italy.