Day 1 Roundup at the EuroHockey Championship II, Men, Lousada
Day 1, 1 August 2021
The EuroHockey Championship III 2021, Men, is played in the Estádio Municipal de Hóquei em Campo in Lousada, Portugal, about 40 minutes east of Porto. The pitch in Lousada was replaced 2 years ago, so the event is played with excellent conditions for the players and umpires. The host National Association, Federação Portuguesa de Hóquei, has done their utmost to make this event possible which is highly appreciated by all participants. The EHF wishes to thank the host for their great work up till now.
The teams in the competition are as follows (Current World Ranking in brackets): Belarus (32nd), Czech Republic (32nd also) Portugal (41st) Turkey (47th), Slovakia (49th), Lithuania (54th), and Malta (63rd).
The Pool A match between Belarus and Turkey was the first match of the event. In 2019 Belarus was relegated from the EuroHockey Championship II in Cambrai (FRA), together with the Czech Republic. As Belarus and Czech Republic are the highest-ranked teams in this competition, they are looking to make sure they are on top of the final ranking at the end of this week. But there are challenges.
Turkey played with 5 players making their debut on international senior level: Furkan ÖZKILIÇ, Ömer ÖZKAN, Mazlum KESKIN, Necip ÇILKIZ and Batuhan ÖZAKALIN.the same counted for Stanislau LEUKIN and Pavel KORSIK of Belarus.
The match started slow but then went from left to right, skipping the midfield often. Just before halftime, it was Belarus who opened the score from a PC; Artur KADRAN with the 1-0. At the end of the 3rd quarter, Turkey equalized via a field goal by Ali Akin ÖZKILIÇ. It was the same Ali Akin ÖZKILIÇ who brought the Turkish team ahead via a great goal 11 minutes before the end. Nearly from the backline, he outwitted the Belarussian goalkeeper; 1-2. The Belarussian side kept on pressing, getting numerous penalty corners, but time after time the Turkish defense kept their goal clean. Only in the 56th minute, was a PC variant which was too much for Turkey; Uladzislau BELAVUSAU scored a nice PC. A few more chances on both sides, but the score in this highly entertaining game remained 2-2.
The 2nd match of the day saw the Czech Republic taking on Slovakia. The players obviously know each other very well as they play in the same interleague. The Slovak defense was not yet awake as Martin CAPOUCH put the first penalty corner in the net in the 3rd minute. The rest of the 1st half was equal with not too many big chances for both teams.
The Czechs got a huge opportunity in the 38th minute when Štěpán KLABAN was brought down in the circle. Tomas PROCHÁZKA converted the penalty stroke making it 2-0 to the Czech Republic. Štěpán KLABAN and Josef TOMS are the only 2 youngsters of the Czechs who also played in the EuroHockey U18 Championship II in Vienna (AUT) last week.
In the 50th minute, Lukas PLOCHÝ scored the 3-0 via a field goal, shortly followed by the 4-0 by Michal BÁRTA. The Slovaks got a penalty corner but this was defended well. The Slovaks thought the match was nearly finished and indeed nearly… Lukas PLOCHÝ scored a hattrick in the last minute, making his match total 4. Final score Czech Republic vs Slovakia; 7-0.
A nice thing to mention is that 6 players of the Czech Republic played their 1st international match today: Ondrej HES, Josef TOMS, Eduard GERLICKÝ, Štěpán KLABAN, Josef TREJBAL, and Vojtěch PAŽITKA.
This also counted for the Slovak side where 5 teenagers played their 1st international match: Tomáš POUSTECKÝ, Peter PREVERČÍK, Matúš DUGOVIČ, Jozef HORÁČEK and Adam ŠTROFEK.
The 3rd and last match of Day 1 saw home nation Portugal taking on Lithuania. Diogo GAMITO made his debut for the senior team of Portugal and Rafal STANKEVIČ doing the same for the Baltic nation.
The first half showed that both teams were equal. Both teams had chances but the score remained 0-0. In the 3rd quarter, José SANTOS was the first to score, 1-0 via a PC. A few seconds before the end of the 3rd quarter a nice attack and brilliant backhand shot by Tiago VENTOSA resulting in the 2-0. In the last quarter, Portugal clearly had the better chances, but more than a 3rd field goal by Afonso CARAMALHO did not happen. Final score 3-0 to Portugal, who were supported by a good crowd.
Watch back the games on www.eurohockeytv.org
All results here: https://tms.fih.ch/competitions/1265
The post Day 1 Roundup at the EuroHockey Championship II, Men, Lousada appeared first on European Hockey Federation.