On the fifth day of the European Championship, Spain had to win against England by two goals to reach the semi-finals. Despite a passionate and furious final offensive, Frederic Soyez’s team failed to do so and also conceded a third goal in the final seconds, making the British victorious 3-2.
That happened with the third and winning goal by Sam Ward, the star of the afternoon in the game that was led by Coen van Bunge and Michiel Otten. England led 2-0 after the first quarter, after which Spain – after the connecting goal from good-old Pau Quemada – tied the score in the fourth quarter with a goal from Xavi Lleonart. The ex-Bloemendaler took the ball brilliantly and eventually completed it quite happily.
Immediately afterwards, keeper Quico Cortes was taken off the field for an extra field player, because Spain wanted to search for even more goals. That was not possible, partly due to a stupid green card for captain Miquel Delas. Just before Ward made his third, Britain’s Thomas Sorsby also received a card. He was only booked for hitting a Spanish opponent in the face, where red would have been in place.
Spain-England 2-3 (1-2)
12′ Sam Ward 0-1 (sc)
14′ Sam Ward 0-2 (sc)
27′ Pau Quemada 1-2 (sc)
49′ Xavi Lleonart 2-2
60′ Sam Ward 2-3 (sc)
France empty-handed after blistering duel
France was close to a surprise against Germany. But just like against the Orange Men, the Honamas struck in the final phase. This time, Kais Al Saadi’s team turned a 5-2 deficit into a 6-5 lead. The winning goal, which resulted in a place in the last four, came in the final whistle.
The French had a lightning start against Germany. After four minutes, the score was 2-0 in favor of Jeroen Delmée’s team. Nicolas Dumont opened the scoring after two minutes, after which Pieter van Straaten successfully completed the beautiful preparatory work by Blaise Rogeau.
The opulence was short-lived. Two minutes later, Germany had already cleared the deficit via two striking penalty corners from Martin Häner. After Christopher Rühr had two good opportunities, France took the lead again. After a penalty corner that didn’t go entirely smoothly, Charles Masson scored. He did need the help of a German defender, who worked the ball into his own goal.
Four minutes into the second quarter, Van Straaten scored his second goal and lifted the lead to 4-2 for the French, who took full advantage of the surplus situation after Martin Zwicker’s green card. It then became even better for France, as Benjamin Marqué tipped in the 5-2 just in front of goalkeeper Victor Aly.
It was only the third time in European Championship history that Germany conceded at least five goals. After the fifth goal of the French, captain Tobias Hauke called his men together. The words seemed to have an effect on the Germans because Niklas Wellen narrowed the deficit to 5-3 not much later.
Immediately after the break it even became 5-4 via Florian Fuchs. The French held out for a long time, but six minutes before the end, Wellen’s equalizer and four seconds before the end, Häner decided the game in German favor with his third goal.
France-Germany 5-6 (5-3)
2′ Nicolas Dumont 1-0
4′ Pieter van Straaten 2-0
4′ Martin Häner 2-1 (sc)
5′ Martin Häner 2-2 (sc)
13′ Charles Masson 3-2 (sc)
19′ Pieter van Straaten 4-2
22′ Benjamin Marqué 5-2
25′ Niklas Wellen 5-3 (sc)
33′ Florian Fuchs 5-4
54′ Niklas Wellen 5-5
60′ Martin Häner 5 -6 (sc)
Belgium is working on goal difference and reaches the last four
The European and world champion opened the fifth day of the European Championship. The Belgians, who appeared without the slightly injured Sebastien Dockier on his hamstrings, opened the score after 33 seconds. Florent van Aubel completed a combination in the Russian circle beautifully.
Not much later Tom Boon seemed to put the 2-0 on the board. The fireworks behind the Russian target were ignited. The referee indicated that it was a goal, but there was no trace of joy among the Belgians. The referee then decided to request a video referral himself to check whether the ball had actually crossed the goal line. The video images soon showed that Boon had hit the pole
The Belgians did not have to wait long for a second goal. Alexander Hendrickx pushed in the 2-0 from the head circle and barely a minute later Nicolas de Kerpel tipped in a cross. Hendrickx made it 4-0 for the first of the first fifteen minutes.
The Russians were dangerous once in that first quarter. Andrei Kuraev’s shot was gloved off by Loïc van Doren, who replaced Vincent Vanasch under the bar at the Red Lions.
Van Doren was ‘busy’ in the second quarter when the Russians appeared in front of him a number of times. However, Van Doren did not have to go to great lengths to reverse the bets of Alexander Skiperskiy and Sergei Lepeshkin. However, the goalkeeper had no answer to Artem Nadryrshin’s penalty corner. At that time, the Belgians were already leading 5-0 via Antoine Kina and a handful of seconds after the Russian goal, Florent van Aubel determined the halftime score at 6-1.
Despite the comfortable lead, Arthur de Sloover received his second yellow card of the tournament after a push in the circle in the back of his Russian opponent. Russia had a penalty corner but no penalty shot.
After Boon hit the post again, from a pass from Kina, he was cold-blooded from the leading circle: 7-1. Offensively it was good for Belgium against low-flying Russia, but defensively the concentration was not optimal. Kuraev took advantage and left Van Doren without a chance for the second time.
Hendrickx, again from a penalty corner, and Thomas Briels eventually increased the score to 9-2. It was the fourth time that the Belgians won a game with seven goals difference at a European Championship.
Belgium-Russia 9-2 (6-1)
1′ Florent van Aubel 1-0
9′ Alexander Hendrickx 2-0 (sc)
10′ Nicolas de Kerpel 3-0
13′ Alexander Hendrickx 4-0 (sc)
27′ Antoine Kina 5-0
30′ Artem Nadyrshin 5-1 (sc)
30′ Florent van Aubel 6-1
41′ Tom Boon 7-1 (sc)
44′ Andrei Kuraev 7-2
54′ Alexander Hendrickx 8-2
56′ Thomas Briels 9-2
State of affairs Group A Men
| Item. | Country | G | G | V | In front of | Against | Ptn |
| 1. | England** | 3 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 3 | 9 |
| 2. | Belgium** | 2 | 0 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 6 |
| 3. | Spain* | 1 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 8 | 1 |
| 4. | Russia* | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 19 | 0 |
State of affairs Group B Men
| Item. | Country | G | G | V | In front of | Against | Ptn |
| 1. | Netherlands ** | 2 | 1 | 0 | 11 | 2 | 7 |
| 2. | Germany** | 2 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 8 | 7 |
| 3. | Wales* | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 16 | 3 |
| 4. | France* | 0 | 0 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 0 |
Program Wednesday 9 June
| Time | Contest | D/H |
| half past twelve | Ireland-Spain | Ladies |
| 14:45 | Germany-Italy | Ladies |
| 17:00 | Belgium-England | Ladies |
| 8:00 pm | Netherlands -Scotland | Ladies |
** Teams go to the semi-finals
* Teams play in Pool C for places five to eight
