24th August, EHC (men) in Mönchengladbach: Belgium – Spain 3:2 (0:2)
24.08.2011 - Belgium has done it! In the deciding game for the final men’s Olympicticket to be awarded in Mönchengladbach, Colin Batch’s team came out on top against Spain 3:2(0:2).In front of 1,000 Belgian fans the team turned the run of play in the second half and changed the 0:2 half time score into a victory. Spain put on a very good show, but at the end had nothing more to give against the fast-running Belgians. Spain now has to take the difficult road via one of the Olympic qualification tournaments in order to win a place at the 2012 Games in London.
Colin Batch: “We don’t often win against the top teams, so we’re even happier than usual. You can see that we’re not so far away now. Even though we trailed 0:2, our first half was actually good. But we fought our way back into the game and even won it.”
Jerome Dekeyser: “It’s great that we’ve again qualified for the Olympics. Hockey has developed well in Belgium. Our fans were fantastic today, and I don’t know if we could have done it without them.” Santi Freixa: “An analysis is of course difficult so soon after the game. The disappointment is too great at the moment. Now we have to go through Olympic qualification, which certainly won’t be easy.”
The requirements before this final group game were clear: a draw would be enough for the Belgians to be sure of a place in the semi-final, but Spain needed a victory. And that’s how the Spaniards started – by uncharacteristically attacking their opponents in their own half. A hectic early phase developed without any noteworthy play within the circles. It wasn’t until ten minutes later that the Belgians made the fans sit up and take notice, when a hard-hit flank narrowly missed Jerome Truyens’ stick.
Four minutes later the identical attack, but this time Spain’s keeper Francisco Cortes was on the spot. The Belgians settled into the Spanish half but the fast-countering Iberians were the more dangerous team. Edi Tubau attacked fast and passed to free-standing Roc Oliva, who scored with a seven metre volley 1:0 (16). Now the Spaniards had found their form. Tubau again bulldozed through the middle and passed to Juan Fernandez who turned and scored 2:0 (22). In this phase Belgium attempted a few tidy attacks without being able to put pressure on the Spanish goalkeeper Cortes.
Even a penalty corner – weakly taken – was no problem for the Olympic silver medallists’ goalie. At the beginning of the second half Pau Quemada had the chance to put the game away, but his corner was safely parried by the goalkeeper David van Rysselberghe (36). Now the Belgians caught fire – cheered on by their frenzied fans. Maxime Luycx narrowed the score with an Argentinian backhand (41), which inspired the Belgian team even further. Spain now became noticeably more nervous, which led to a yellow card for rough play by Manel Terraza and the next penalty corner for Belgium.
This was converted by Tom Boon with a scoop at half height to equalise (46), which in itself would qualify the Belgians for the semi-final. The game now stood on the proverbial knife’s edge. For the Belgians, first Thomas Briels scraped away a Spanish shot to come to the aid of his already beaten keeper (60),and then Jerome Dekeyser scored a spectacular goal 3:2. He pushed into the circle, outplayed three Spaniards and popped the ball via the post into the opponents’ goal (62). Belgium even had two more chances to score, but the rest of the match was lost in the roar of the Belgian crown.
Goals:
0:1 Roc Oliva (16.)
0:2 Juan Fernandez (20.)
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1:2 Maxime Luycx (41.)
2:2 Tom Boon (PC, 46.)
3:2 Jerome Dekeyser (62.)
Penalty corners:
BEL 2 (-) / ESP 2 (1 goal)
Yellow cards:
Manel Terraza (45.)
Umpires:
David Gentles / Hamish Jamson
Original Article: http://www.hockey.de/VVI-web/default.asp?lokal=DHB&innen=/VVI-web/EM/2011/Ergebnisdienst.asp&auswahl=1&spiel=12&version=EN
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