This afternoon’s meeting of Bloemendaal and Atletic Tarrassa would have made a good final, but it wasn’t and one can only hope that the real thing will not be a pale imitation of a match that thrilled from start to finish. The stands were a sea of orange and the match was started by a ring of orange flares being lit around the ground. But if the Spanish were intimidated they did not show it. After having conceded a goal in the opening minutes, scored almost predictably by their German international Christopher Zeller, the Spaniards showed flair and pace to get themselves back into the game five minutes later, the goal scored by Florian Michel. Much to the dismay of the home supporters, Terrassa briefly went ahead when Pere Castello converted a penalty corner, but the Dutch replied with a field goal by Nick Meijer just before the half time hooter. In the second half Terrassa had the lion’s share of the play but it looked increasingly as if Bloemendaal would win the pool by default as the seconds ticked away. With literally seconds of play left that best known of Spanish hockey players, Santi Frexia, slipped the ball passed Jan Stockman in the Dutch goal. The Spanish team went wild as they realised they were in the final against Crefelder tomorrow. The bonze medal match will be between
