The men’s semi finals of the Olympic hockey tournament in Beijing this evening were graced by two excellent matches between well matched sides.
The semi-final between Germany and Netherlands went to the 66th minute before Timme Hoyng opened the scoring with a deflected shot from a penalty corner strike by Taeke Taekema to give the Dutch the lead. It was to be a short lived, with Phillip Zeller replying from open play within two minutes. Extra time brought no resolution to the contest and so it went to penalty strokes. After the first set of five ended on at three apiece, it was then down to sudden death. Christopher Zeller stepped up for Germany and, although Guss Vogels got a touch, the Germans took the lead. Next up was Takema, trying to convert his feared penalty corner striking into success from the penalty spot. He put the ball to the left of Max Weinold at shoulder height and the ‘keeper was just able to get a glove to the ball, sending it spinning over the crossbar. Final penalty corner count: 4-3 in Germany’s favour. In fairness, as closely contested as the match was, a German victory was probably a just outcome.
In the other semi final Australia found themselves on the scoreboard within seconds of the opening whistle when Des Abbott scored from a cross from Travis Brooks. Going into the second half at 1-0 they repeated the trick by scoring a second in the first two minutes, this time off the stick of Eddie Ockenden. Australia’s lead did not really reflect the balance of play, but two goals from Eduard Tubau (pictured) put the sides on equal terms. This looked like the second semi final to go to extra time but, with three minutes left on the clock, a nudge on Eduard Arbos by David Guest gave Spain a penalty corner. Santi Freixa’s strike hit defender Robert Hammond on the knee and another penalty corner was awarded. There were a couple of seconds confusion involving the technical officer, which appeared to be as a result of Australia trying to substitute Hammond, but Freixa’s second attempt found the net to put Spain 3-2 ahead. In a last ditch attempt to force the match to extra time, Luke Doerner donned a blue jersey and took over as kicking back from goalie Stephen Lambert, but to no avail. Spain won the match 3-2 and will now meet Germany in the final on Saturday.
The results from other matches today can be found on our web site at www.talkhockeyradio.co.uk.
Great Britain’s women will be in action tomorrow when they play Australia for fifth place. This will be followed by the bronze medal match between Germany and Argentina. The final between the Netherlands and China will be played after the bronze medal match.
