In the first match of the "Final Four" at the EuroHockey League in Rotterdam, UHC Hamburg dominated the opening sortie before Leuven had the first shot on goal, a deflection from a cross, well saved by Jacobi in the Hamburg goal. But a moment later UHC took the lead when Tom Mieling forced his way into the circle and shot past the Belgian goalkeeper. 10 mins later saw a slip by a German defender and the Belgians made them pay by passing around the remaining players and putting the ball into the net through Renaud Pangrazio. At the start of the 2nd quarter UHC came out with all guns blazing and a minute later another sizzling run by Spanish player Carlos Nevado (pictured) down the left saw his cross not cleared by the Belgian defence and Marco Miltkau blast it into the goal. Immediately from the pushback Nevado was left unchallenged, this time in the middle of the pitch, and his reverse stick strike from the top of the circle gave UHC a 3-1 lead. The Belgians didn't give up and ten minutes later pulled one through Pau Quemada.The second half was a much quieter affair although both sides had chances and there were some superb saves by both 'keepers. In the last quarter of the match Leuven thought they had equalised from the only penalty corner of the match. However the shot was deemed dangerous when it was deflected in from a high shot and UHC held out to get to the final for the second year in a row and with a chance of defending their title.
The second match of the day saw hosts Rotterdam and last weekend's Dutch playoff final winners, Bloemendaal, meet again for the sixth time this season. Bloemendaal took the lead through Wouter Jolie from their first penalty corner in the 24th minute. They added a second from their second penalty corner through Olmer Meijer on the stroke of half time.
Phil Burrows put Rotterdam in with a chance when he scored at the beginning of the second half. A mistake on the left was pounced on by Jamie Dwyer - and he doesn't miss many chances like that - as he fired the ball into the back of the net. Burrows again pulled one back to make it 3-2 but an almost identical goal to Dwyer's, this time from Ronald Brouwer, made it 4-2. However, there was one last gasp from Rotterdam when Mark Knowles danced up the pitch from before the halfway line, and pirouetted at the top of the circle to score the best goal of the game and make the score 4-3. They pushed hard and hit the post but couldn't get past Bloemendaal's defence again and the final score remained at 4-3.
