Poland were carried along on a wave of emotion generated by a home crowd as they played a tough Austrian side in the semi-finals of the FIH Indoor World Cup here in Poznan. Clinging on to a single goal lead for much of the match, the situation might have been quite different had it not been for a timely penalty stroke save by Poland’s Mariusz Chyla early in the game. Final score 2-1 to Poland.
This puts the hosts into a final against the inevitable winners of the earlier meeting between Germany and Russia. The Germans had a clean sweep, scoring ten for no reply, including a hat trick from Oskar Deecke.
England underperformed in their earlier 5th/6th place match against the Dutch, conceding two early goals to Robert Tigges. The final score of 4-2 to The Netherlands is slightly flattering to England, thanks to two late goals, the first from Richard Mantell and the second from Richard Alexander.
The women’s final tomorrow will be between Germany and The Netherlands.
