Iglesias and Campo’s fair chance at EHL pursuit

Alvaro Iglesias’s sportsmanship was one the of images of the EHL Men’s KO16 in Barcelona as the Real Club de Campo captain talked the umpires out of giving Royal Léopold’s Dimitri Cuvelier a yellow card.

With the contest and a ticket to this Easter’s FINALS in Den Bosch in the balance, Iglesias could easily have let things pass by and take the advantage for his team.

But he felt the punishment was not commensurate with Cuvelier’s crime whose stick clipped Campo’s Quique Gonzalez in the head. Iglesias insisted Cuvelier’s actions were not deliberate and, crucially, the officials listened.

“I think it was just the right thing to say,” he reflected afterwards. “It was weird because at the moment I saw the action and I knew it was a free hit for us but just a normal free hit.

Campo went on to win the tie anyway, prompting laughter in the dressing room: “The guys said we were lucky we won – otherwise they would have killed me!”

Iglesias also scored his side’s only goal in a 1-1 as the Madrid club eventually progressed via a shoot-out, going the distance after probably shading proceedings in normal time. It was a performance to be proud of and one which he says was their best of the season so far.

“We were able to stop players like [José] Basterra and Tom Boon and I think we were the better side and deserved it!”

It puts him two wins away from a third EHL medal having won a silver all the way back in 2011 with Campo before picking up a bronze in 2014 during his time with KHC Dragons.

And he can go about the task with all-out energy, the trip to Den Bosch bringing the potential for a few extra hours sleep for him and his wife Begoña Garcia than they have been used to recently.

The pair welcomed their first child last year, a something which meant Garcia was not part of the women’s team last Easter.

“Haha, we will get a very good sleep for those four or five days!” he says of the situation with the little one remaining in Madrid with the grandparents, allowing full focus on EHL matters.

First on the agenda is Surbiton, though, a side they know well having been pipped to the 2022 bronze and then also fell to them a year ago in a shoot-out in a ranking match.

“I don’t think they have lost a single game this season and they have a lot of players in the English national team. It will be very physical, they are super fit and we know each other very well.

“But we are 100% sure we have a chance and we will do our best to make it happen.”

If they succeed, there is a sense that this side of the draw holds a lot of opportunity. Much has been made of the draw that sees the Dutch and German giants clustered together on one side but Iglesias adds the gap has narrowed with England rising and Belgium breaking through.

“Both English teams have improved a lot,” he said. “Old Georgians beat Bloemendaal; that’s big. Maybe the Spanish teams are a little bit further from that level overall, but we still have a chance.

“But to have even a 1% chance of a medal, we have to play at 100% in every action,” he said. “Otherwise there is no chance. Simple as that.”

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