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28th August 2017: The men’s EuroHockey Junior Championship began with a bang with 26 goals across four games in Valencia, crowned by a thrilling 3-3 draw between the hosts and the Netherlands. Pool A: England 8 (W Calnan 5, D Scott, J Clee, P Scott) Portugal 0 Will Calnan scored five times for the English Under-21s as they proved too strong for the promoted Portugal in the opening game of Pool A. Calnan opened the scoring in the third minute before adding a second from the penalty spot. Duncan Scott’s effort made it 3-0 at the half-time interval. Another stroke from Calnan and field goals from Jack Clee and Peter Scott extended the lead to six before Calnan completed the win with two penalty corner goals. Netherlands 3 (B Burkhardt 2, T Beins) Spain 3 (I Cobos, L Garcia Alcalde, M Miralles) The Netherlands scored twice in the closing 10 minutes to draw 3-3 with Spain in front of a boisterous home crowd in Valencia. Boris Burkhardt got the Dutch in front from a corner with a low dragflick in the 15thminute. The hosts got back on terms a minute into the second quarter when Lucas Garcia Alcalde’s shot rebounded to Ignacio Cobos who netted. And Spain moved in front in the 39th minute following a glorious move. Manu Bordas and Sam Cortes exchanged passes before the latter crossed for Garcia Alcalde to guide home. Cobos then won a stroke which Marc Miralles converted for a 3-1 lead. Teun Beins reduced the gap with ten minutes to go from a corner rocket and they got back level in the 54th minute when Burkhadt smashed in his second. Pool B: Germany 4 (N Bosserhoff, J Schiffer, M Rothlander, T O Prinz) Ireland 2 (S Wolfe, L Madeley) Quick-fire goals from Moritz Rothlander and Ties Ole Prinz saw Germany shake off the attentions of Ireland in a lively opening game of the tournament, played in the early morning sunshine. “I think it was a good game to start,” German coach Valentin Altenburg said of the tie. “Ireland did a good job defending which was very effective. Whenever they entered our circle, they were very dangerous, equalising twice and making things very difficult for us.” Germany got off to the perfect start with Niklas Bossherhoff opening the scoring in the first minute. Simon Wolfe levelled the tie before Jan Schiffer got on the end of a brilliant cross to put Germany 2-1 up at half-time. Luke Madeley’s drag-flick from Ireland’s only corner equalised the game for a second time. But moments later Rothlander restored the German lead and Prinz completed the win. Belgium 5 (G Stockbroekx 3, L Capelle, T Willems) Austria 1 (F Steyrer) Gregory Stockbroekx’s hat trick saw Belgium see off Austria 5-1 to give them a lead on goal difference after day one of the men’s campaign. He had scored two by half-time and his third made it 3-0 early in the second half. Captain Florian Steyrer – one of three Austrians who played at the Euros
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in Amsterdam along with Oliver Binder and Fabian Unterkircher – got one back from the penalty spot. Louis Capelle and Tommy Willems completed the victory for the Belgians. GERMANY THROUGH TO MEN’S JUNIOR EURO SEMIS AS POOL A SET FOR THREE-WAY SHOWDOWN Germany booked their place in the semi-finals of the men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships thanks to their last minute win over Belgium. Who joins them will be decided on Thursday with Pool A shaping up nicely with the Netherlands, Spain and England all in the mix. The women’s competition also returns on Thursday after a rest day with the final two semi-final places up for grabs. Men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships Pool A: England 2 (W Calnan, D Scott) Netherlands 2 (T Beins, N Schoenaker) England and the Netherlands shared the points from a hotly contested draw to leave Pool A wide open with the former ending the day on four points and the latter sitting on two. Both sides held the lead at different times, the Netherlands going in front via Teun Beins’ corner in the eighth minute. But any thought this would be a pushover was quickly put to bed as Tom Sorsby drew the best of Hidde Brink. Into the second quarter, England from a series of six corners, the fifth of which was dragged in by Will Calnan, his sixth goal of the campaign after just two games. And they went in front in the 43rd minute via Duncan Scott with an exceptional sharp volley after Rhys Smith’s cross popped up at head height. Asked how much he saw of the chance coming his way, Scott said: “Not much, I was just hoping the defender missed it. You’ve just got to get yourself in those positions and once they come, you have got to be ready to put them in!” The lead lasted only a few minutes when Noud Schoenaker scored a classy effort, deflecting behind his back to make it 2-2 with just three second showing on the clock before the end of the third quarter. The Dutch threw everything forward for the closing few minutes and hit the post from the very last play, leaving them to tie for the second game in a row. For Scott, there were mixed emotions about the result: “Going on 2-1 up, you obviously want to finish off the game strong and get the three points. As it stands, it’s all to play for going into our final game and a point is better than nothing. Now we need to turn to Spain and securing their place in the semis.” Spain 12 (M Bordas 4, X Gispert 2, J Lara, L Garcia Alcalde, J Cabot, M Miralles, P Parilla) Portugal 0 Spain eased to their first victory of the competition as they beat Portugal with plenty to spare in Valencia with Manu Bordas leading the way. He started the run in the third minute before Jan Lara and Xavier Gispert extended the lead to three by the end of the third quarter.
Bordas’ second goal and another Lucas Garcia Alcalde made it 5-0 by half-time. Two more from Bordas stretched the lead to seven before Javier Cabot got the eighth, matching England’s total against the Portuguese. It might have been more but for some big saves from Axel Ribeiro and the underside of the bar. Four more goals, however, did follow in the closing three minutes to put Spain ahead of England on goal difference, giving them the edge ahead of their key showdown. Pool B: Ireland 4 (J Dale 2, L Madeley, K O’Hare) Austria 4 (F Steyrer 2, N Wellan, O Binder) Ireland and Austria served up an eight goal thriller early on day two of the men’s competition with Julian Dale tying the game up with four minutes to go. Ireland’s Julian Dale scored twice against Austria. Pic: Frank Uijlenbroek/World Sport Pics He had started the scoring off the back of strong passes down the middle from Simon Wolfe and Luke Madeley. Keith O’Hare made it 2-0 soon after from a corner before Nikolaus Wellan got one back from another set-piece. Madeley’s switch made it 3-1 before Florian Steyrer scored his first before half-time. Steyrer then equalised from a stroke as Ireland suffered three cards in the third quarter. Oliver Binder put Austria 4-3 up in the closing quarter but Dale won a stroke which he converted for a draw. “Are you joking me?” the Irish striker said afterwards of whether he felt any nerves. “No pressure, no nerves, just put the ball in the goal.” “It was a great game. It’s those kind of ones you are proud to play in a green jersey. The grit, the fight; limbe were hanging off from one or two lads but they gritted through it going into the Belgium match and I absolutely can’t wait for it.” For Austria coach Cedric d’Souza described the mad nature of the game: “They were all over us in the first half. We came back much stronger after the break. It’s important for us to keep believing, we are a small nation with a small player base. “We missed a couple, they missed a couple – it was a humdinger but we lost 5-1 to Belgium and bounced back to lead. It shows character from a side with eight or nine of these guys who can play the next Euros.” Germany 2 (R Hartkopf, H Muller) Belgium 1 (A Kina) Hannes Muller’s “lucky” goal gave Germany a crucial winner for Germany over Belgium to make them the first side to qualify for the men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships semi-final. Raphael Hartkopf opened the scoring from a corner in the ninth minute before Antoine Kina equalised just before half-time with an excellent individual goal, bursting forward at speed at picking out the bottom left corner. Muller had a big chance to put Germany back in front in the closing five minutes when he dodged around goalkeeper Charles Masset but lifted his shot over the bar. He did grab the winner with a minute to go when he gambled on trying to intercept Alexis Lemaire’s ball across the face of goal, diving to touch in first time for 2-1.
Speaking about his last few minutes, Muller said: “It was a good game from both sides. My first effort wasn’t very good, putting it over; the second was much better! I never thought the ball would come to me; I was basically just lucky!” For Belgian coach Jeroen Baart, he is happy enough with his side’s overall performance and says the side can go far in the competition. “We were under pressure in the first quarter but after that, we came back into and deserved to get to 1-1. The third quarter was in our favour but wewe didn’t reward ourselves and its frustrating to lose like that. “If we beat Ireland, then if we produced the same level in the semis we will win there. The Irish are very physical, tough side. For them, I think it was a disappointing result against Austria but they will be full on against us. We need to get our quality up and be aware of their physicality and their mental game.” SPAIN, NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM COMPLETE MEN’S EURO JUNIOR SEMI-FINAL LINE-UP Spain held off a dramatic late fightback from England to take their place in the men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships along with the Netherlands from Pool A. Belgium took the second semi-final spot from Pool B when they beat Ireland 3-1. Men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships – day three round-up Pool A: England 2 (W Calnan, T Sorsby) Spain 2 (M Escude, X Gispert) Spain clung on to a precious draw to eliminate England on goal difference after the top three in Pool A all ended on five points with one win and two draws. The only separator proved their respective results against Portugal, Spain’s dozen the divider to put them top of the group with the Netherlands second and England ousted in third. The final group tie was an absolute thriller. Marc Escude opened the scoring in brilliant fashion, picking up a raking pass from left back, out-muscling his man before pumping a shot into the bottom left corner. Will Calnan equalised with a drag-flick, his seventh goal of the campaign, to get England level by the end of the first quarter. Xavier Gispert returned the lead to Spain by half-time, though, when a lengthy ball from the back again made it into the forward line where he unleashed a low backhand that made it all the way in. As time wore on, England became more and more of a force. Tom Sorsby hit the post from a corner deflection before he equalised the game at 2-2 with a smart finish at the near post. From there, they piled on the pressure but could not break through the Spanish rearguard action. Assistant coach Arseni Sane praised his side for digging deep to grit out the win in the end. “The level is very equal and it was a really tough game,” he said. “We played really well for the first three quarters but the last one, we sat too far back and suffered a lot of pressure but we are happy to get the draw and a place into the semi-finals. “England pushed a lot and were really aggressive in our circle so we had
to defend corners, second balls and a lot of shots but it’s a positive thing that we defended so well and got the reward.” It was played out in front of a boisterous crowd who enjoyed seeing their Spanish side come to fruition. “It’s always nice to play here at home with people all around. We had a short preparation with almost no games so we did not know what our level would be in competition in relation to the other teams. We did three really good games and are very happy.” Netherland 10 (B Burkhardt 7, M de Vilder, T van Dam, T Pieters) Portugal 0 Boris Burkhardt scored a massive seven times as the Netherlands sealed their place in the men’s semi-final, passing the eight-goal target they needed to guarantee progression. Morris de Vilder opened the scoring from a corner before Burkhardt took over, scoring the next from another set piece before adding one from play for 3-0 at quarter-time. His hat trick was complete for a fourgoal cushion at half-time. He added the next three for good measure to bring the total up to 7-0 before Terrence Pieters got the important eighth goal. Late efforts from Burkhardt and Thijs van Dam completed double figures. Pool B Belgium 3 (H Raes 2, A Lemaire) Ireland 1 (G Cole) Henri Raes’ double under-pinned Belgium’s 3-1 win as they swept into the semi-final of the competition, sending Ireland into the relegation group. He smashed in a brilliant reverse-stick shot into the top corner to break the deadlock in the first 10 minutes. Ireland had a couple of good chances with Charles Masset saving from both Matthew Crookshanks and Luke Madeley before Belgium moved further ahead from a penalty stroke, Alexis Lemaire scoring. Raes then made the game safe in the 44th minute when his intended cross found a defensive stick which turned the ball passed the impressive Jamie Carr. Geoff Cole got one back within a minute from a corner deflection and while Ireland had good phases in the last quarter, Belgium were comfortable in front, especially when Madeley and John Mullins were shown yellow cards. Raes said it was a strong performance as his side bounced back from their defeat to Germany a day earlier. “It was our big purpose today to get through to the semi-finals, win the game and go on with a nice feeling and that’s what we did!” he said. “A last minute goal [against Germany] is never nice but we did a nice debrief, scanned the Ireland team really well and did a nice job. It’s all good teams in the opposite pool so we will just go for it and play our best game on Saturday.” Germany 4 (J Grosse, L Pfaff, P Dosch, M Werner) Austria 0 Germany completed a 4-0 win over Austria to make it three wins from three to top Pool B of the men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships in Valencia.
It took a while to break through against a stubborn Austrian opponent who forced the first major chance from a corner. Germany went in front two minutes before half-time from a clever corner move, switching the ball to injector Johannes Grosse who swept in for 1-0. For thes second goal, Lukas Pfaff took the direct route with a high dragflick in the 36th minute. And they were further in the clear when Linus Muller stepped forward to steal possession with the ball quickly transferred from right to the left where Paul Dosch controlled and slotted home. Max Werner completed the win with a close-range finish. NETHERLANDS AND BELGIUM SET UP MEN’S EURO JUNIOR FINAL SHOWDOWN The Netherlands and Belgium set up a repeat of the men’s senior EuroHockey Championships when their respective Under-21 teams made it through to the Junior final in Valencia. In the relegation pool, England assured their safety with Austria and Ireland may yet go down to goal difference for the last space. Men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships Semi-final 1: Netherlands 2 (N Schoenaker, B Burkhardt) Germany 1 (L Michler) Boris Burkhardt enjoyed the perfect birthday present as he netted his tenth goal of the men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships to give the Dutch a coveted final place. He struck with 17 minutes to go with a quick turn and shot for his 10th goal of the tournament, landing a 2-1 success after earlier goals from Noud Schoenaker and Linus Michler had the game locked at 1-1. Speaking afterwards, the Amsterdam man was delighted with a special day: “We played the whole game as a team, had a lot of chances and it was a very good performance for us. It was nice to do it on my birthday and I love this team so it was a perfect day for me!” His side had the upper hand for most of the tie and had a number of big chances to break the deadlock in the first quarter. First, Schoenaker broke into the circle before slipping to Thijs van Dam but he could not take advantage, slipping wide from close range. Terrance Pieters then saw a stroke saved by Alexander Stadler while Teun Beins fired a drag-flick wide. The goal eventually came in the 23rd minute following a lovely run from Schoenaker who subsequently smashed through Stadler’s defences. Stadler made further good saves from a couple of other corners and a Burkhardt shot as the Dutch controlled the first half but could not move further ahead.
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Germany, though, got themselves level out of the blue in the second half when Linus Michler set in motion a great move, working the ball to the right wing where it reached Malte Hellwig. He struck an upright backhand to the left post where Michler had followed up to chip in for 1-1. Parity only remained for a few minutes, however, as Terrance Pieters and Daniel Aarts popped the ball inside for Burkhardt to apply the finish and make it 2-1. From there, Germany could not force a comeback and the Dutch held on for their place in Sunday’s final. Dutch Skipper Lars Balk said his side stepped up from their group stage performances with a fine win. “It was a tough game as it always is against the Germans. I think we played well; in the pool, it wasn’t good and now we had some freedom so it’s going well.” Who they play in the final, though, will not be found out until much later as the second semi-final between Belgium and Spain was pushed back to 5.30pm due to illness in the Spanish camp. Balk said he was hopeful of meeting the home hosts given the noise from the stands in their group stage meeting after a well-earned break today. “We just have to rest, line in our beds and sleep! We will then watch the game in the hotel and I hope Spain win. It’s nice here with the crowd; the atmosphere is perfect, the weather and everything in Valencia so I’m happy.” Men’s Semi-Final 2: Belgium 1 (A Lemaire) Spain 0 Alexis Lemaire scored the only goal as his penalty stroke earned Belgium a final berth at the men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships in Valencia. They rode their luck in the first half with goalkeeper Charles Masset producing a series of fine saves to keep out the likes of Pol Parilla, Manu Gispert, Xavier Gispert and Marc Escude. They rode their luck in the first half with goalkeeper Charles Masset producing a series of fine saves to keep out the likes of Pol Parilla, Manu Gispert, Xavier Gispert and Marc Escude.Alexis Le Clef charged down a corner, too, to keep the scoreboard blank at the break. The second half saw Belgium come more into the tie with the driving runs of Nicolas Poncelet a feature, his 3D skills causing havoc along the baseline. Spain and Belgium line-up pre-match. Pic: Sander Uijlenbroek/World Sport Pics Alexis Le Clef charged down a corner, too, to keep the scoreboard blank at the break. The second half saw Belgium come more into the tie with the driving runs of Nicolas Poncelet a feature, his 3D skills causing havoc along the baseline.He won the stroke in the 37 He won the stroke in the 37th minute that Lemaire slotted home – his second of the tournament – to put his side in front. From there, Belgium managed the game well, giving away few clean chances as captain Martin Lambeau marshalled his team down the final stretch. Lemaire was delighted with the outcome after a dramatic day: “Really good result, really good feeling after the game! It was maybe not our best game but we did what we needed to do to get to the final. “We had a really bad first half, lucky for us our keeper made incredible saves to keep us in the game. The second was better; the intensity was much higher and eventually we scored that one goal. Then we had to defend really hard and even though we took cards, all the guys really put a lot of effort into the defence and that’s what paid off.”
They had to readjust to a new fixture time. The sides were originally scheduled to play at 11am but the game was switched to 5.30pm to allow the Spanish players recover from illness after half their squad were struck with stomach upsets. As it was, Ignacio Cobos could not play. For Belgium, it also meant adapting to a new plan. “It was unexpected. We were coming down for briefing and then we were told we had to go back up [to our rooms]. It was a strange day because we didn’t know what to do. We had to refocus and maybe that’s why we didn’t start well but in the end it’s a really good result.” It was Lemaire’s second stroke of the competition and he admitted he had doubts about where to place the ball.“It’s always difficult to shoot a second one because everyone has the video of what you did. Here, I was kind of nervous because it was 0-0 and I needed to score but I just went for it.” “It’s always difficult to shoot a second one because everyone has the video of what you did. Here, I was kind of nervous because it was 0-0 and I needed to score but I just went for it.” Nonetheless, it sets up another final for Belgium having already reached the European senior men’s and women’s finals while their Under-21 women are also in the decider in Valencia. “It’s great for Belgium; it shows we are growing even if we are a small country. We just need to win one now; we played the final of the Junior World Cup with a silver medal. Now we want more and achieve gold!” Sunday 3 September 2017 11.30 Men’s 3rd/4th Germany v Spain Pitch 1 * 17.30 Men’s Final Netherlands v Belgium Pitch 1 * Pool C: England 7 (W Calnan 4, N Page, E Way, P Scott) Ireland 1 (S Grace); Austria 13 (J Puchhamer 4, P Schippan 4, O Binder 2, N Wellan, F Unterkircher, P Kaltenbock) Portugal 0 England secured their safety in the top tier of European Under-21 hockey with a powerful 7-1 win over Ireland as Will Calnan continued his high-scoring ways. Austria, meanwhile, put themselves in great shape to stay up as well thanks to a 13-0 win over Portugal. It means that, barring a 19-goal swing against them on Sunday, they will stay up ahead of Ireland who need to beat Portugal by a big margin to have any hope. England got off to the best possible start as Calnan scored on the reverse inside the first two minutes. A second followed before the end of the first quarter from a steal on halfway that led to Nick Page turning in Peter Scott’s cross. The English counter-attack was dangerous throughout and they held this 2-0 lead into the half-time break. Further goals followed in the third quarter when Calnan and Edward Way netted from penalty corners before the fifth arrived early in the fourth quarter. It came while Ireland had withdrawn their goalkeeper in favour of an extra outfielder, chasing potential goals which may prove key on goal difference with Calnan shooting past the unpadded Sam Grace. Calnan fired in a sixth goal on the backhand and Peter Scott completed
their tally in the final minute. Grace did get one back with 1.6 seconds left on the clock. In the Austria game, three goals from Jakob Puchhammer in the first four minutes put them on course for a mammoth 13-0 win over Portugal. Oliver Binder’s penalty corner made it 4-0 by the seventh minute and the lead was double to eight by half-time as Phillip Schippan scored twice, Puchhammer got a fourth and Peter Kaltenbock also netted. Five more goals followed in the second half with Schippan bringing his total to four goals with Binder scoring a second while Fabian Unterkircher and Nikolaus Wellan getting the others. Pool C standings: 1. England 6pts (+14) 2. Austria 4pts (+13) 3. Ireland 1pt (-6) 4. Portugal 0pts (-21) 3rd September 2017: The EHF regrets to announce that under advice from the Tournament Medical Doctor, the Spanish teams are not allowed to play either of their final games of the EuroHockey Junior Championships. After consultation with the TDs and the EHF Representative it was agreed that these circumstances are not provided for in the Regulations and therefore EHF Regulations for EuroHockey Championships (Outdoor) Item D6 applies. In the Men’s EuroHockey Junior Championship, the 3rd/4th Bronze medal game was not played and Germany is awarded the Bronze medal. In the Women’s EuroHockey Junior Championship, Spain will not play their final Pool C v Ireland. Given these unprecedented circumstances the two TDs and the EHF Representative have agreed to defer any further decisions to the EHF Executive Board We fully understand the importance of these decisions for all teams affected. We wish all players a full recovery. DUTCH GOLD ONCE AGAIN AS THE ORANJE SHOOT DOWN BELGIUM IN MEN’S JUNIOR EURO FINAL Men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships final Netherlands 2 (N Schoenaker, B Burkhardt) Belgium 2 (A Lemaire, G Stockbroekx), Netherlands win 5-3 on shoot-out The Netherlands scored a perfect five from five to land the men’s EuroHockey Junior Championships gold medal as they eventually overcame Belgium following a titanic tussle in Valencia. In the end, it was top scorer Boris Burkhardt who slotted the winning shoot-out, dodging right and slipping past Benjamin Pierre to score his side’s fifth effort. It capped a superb final of end-to-end hockey with both sides having their spells in the ascendancy with the Belgians fighting back in the closing minutes to equalise. The Dutch had taken the lead inside the first ten minutes when Jochem Bakker picked out Noud Schoenaker from back to front and the forward worked some space and cracked the ball home.
Alexis Lemaire equalised almost immediately with his third penalty stroke of the week, netting after a melee in the circle offered the opportunity. Burkhardt put the Netherlands back in front when he whipped home a drag-flick past Charles Masset for his 11th goal of the tournament. And they remained in the box seat for much of the second half with Joren Romijn making a pair of glorious saves in quick succession from Henri Raes and Tommy Willems. Belgium kept fighting and they got their reward when Nicolas Poncelet’s ball into the middle broke to Loic Sidler who returned a pass across the face of goal to the waiting Gregory Stockbroekx who juggled the ball into the net. It sent the game to shoot-out where the first round ended with both sides on the board. Jochem Bakker put the Dutch 2-1 up before Romijn kept out Raes. It was the gamebreaker as the next four shoot-outs were all scored, giving Burkhardt the chance to net the crucial goal. Reflecting on the victory, goalkeeper Joren Romijn said it was a superb team effort to bounce back after two tough draws to open the campaign. “After the hard games in the pool against Spain and England, two points from two games, you know its going to be hard. It was always possible to get the nine goals against Portugal [to get through] and once we did that, we knew there were just four teams left. “We played an incredible game against Germany; today it wasn’t always good but we just won and it’s incredible.” Asked about his role in the shoot-out, while he kept out one effort, he hailed the efforts of the side’s shoot-out takers for scoring a perfect set. “I don’t think it was even my part because we scored five out of five. We trained shoot-outs a lot; I hoped to stop three or four of them but one was enough. “We didn’t decide before the tournament about who would be in goal for the shoot-outs. We discussed it before the semi-final and we said that I was ending the game and so if it was going to shoot-outs, then I would be the guy. “You always want to be important for the team. We defended the whole tournament really well. Of course, it’s nice to be an important part of the team but it doesn’t matter how you win. We are European champions.” Burkhardt’s plans for the next few hours were simple: “Party! Of course!” Umpires: F Garcia (URU), D Rodriguez (ESP) Player of the tournament: Rhys Smith (ENG) Top scorer: Will Calnan (ENG), Boris Burkhardt (NED) – 11 goals Best Goalkeeper: Charles Masset (BEL) Bronze medal match: The men’s bronze medal match between Germany and Spain was not played as, under advice from the Tournament Medical Doctor, the Spanish teams were not allowed to play either of their final games of the EuroHockey Junior Championships. After consultation with the TDs and the EHF Representative it was agreed that these circumstances are not provided for in the Regulations and therefore EHF Regulations for EuroHockey Championships (Outdoor) Item D6 applies. The men’s bronze medal game was not played and Germany were award-
ed the bronze medal. Pool C England 1 (T Sorsby) Austria 0; Ireland 11 (L Madeley 5, S Wolfe 2, J Mullins, C Empey, G Cole, J Dale) Portugal 2 (J Basilio, V Ribeiro) England closed out their tournament unbeaten with a 1-0 win over Austria in Pool C while Ireland got the better of Portugal 11-2. Before the day’s action, the Irish needed to cause a 19-goal swing between the two games played on the final morning in Valencia to move ahead of Austria. They probably needed a favour from England against Austria to get the ball rolling but it did not play out that way. The Austrians proved resolute in defence and dangerous on the counter-attack. Tom Sorsby put England 1-0 up with two minutes to go to half-time with a classy deflection to a left-wing cross. Austria went close to getting back on terms when Hannes Podpera hit the frame of the goal while a couple of corner chances for Oliver Binder slipped through their grasp. An equaliser would have made Austria safe but it did not come and so they had to look to the Ireland versus Portugal tie, hoping that Ireland did not go goal-crazy, making up an 18-goal deficit against Portugal. Simon Wolfe scored twice in the opening four minutes to give them some hopes of a dream result. But the goals slowed up after that with the third arriving in the 20th minute from John Mullins and another came a minute later from Luke Madeley – the first of his five. Portugal, though, grabbed a goal back via Joao Basilio from Thiago da Sousa’s pass to make Ireland’s task harder. At 5-1, Ireland still needed 14 more goals. Four more corners goals from Madeley and other efforts from Julian Dale and Geoff Cole progressed the score but they never looked like threatening Austria’s tally and they ended nine goals short.
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