Final Day EuroHockey Championship III, m, Lousada
Malta v Slovakia 1-3
Malta-Slovakia was the last Pool C match. Adam ŠTROFEK was the first to hit the net this match in the 12th minute, scoring his 1st international senior goal in his 4th appearance.
The 3rd quarter saw a great long pass from the midfield into the circle. The defender missed the ball and behind him Daniel PETRÁŠ appeared, who tipped the ball high in the net: 0-2. He was on fire as he also scored the 0-3 nine minutes before the end, sealing the game.
The last action of the game was the nicest goal of the match, no offense of course to the Slovak goals. Tom DEGIOVANNI entered the circle on the left, went to his backhand, and his shot ended in the top far corner behind Slovak goalkeeper Jakub BOGÁR. Final result Malta-Slovakia 1-3.
This result means 3 teams ended with 3 points in Pool C. Slovakia ends 5th (goal difference of +1), Lithuania 6th (goal difference of 0), and Malta ends 7th (goal difference of -1).
Portugal v Turkey 3 – 3 (3 – 4 SO)
The Bronze Medal match went between hosts Portugal and Turkey.
The home team wanted to show their fans on the stand something and pressed the Turkish defense backwards. This resulted in their first PC which was well saved by Turkey, but the next attack Portugal scored via David FRANCO. The equalizer was scored in the 2nd quarter via a tip-in by Batuhan ERMAN.
Portugal took the lead in the 38th minute via a penalty stroke by Luis TAVARES, when an attacker was illegally brought down in the circle.
Again Batuhan ERMAN advanced a PC variant into the goal (2-2) just before the end of the 3rd quarter. The last quarter the game went from left to right and back, both teams looking for the winning goal. Batuhan ERMAN with his 3rd of the match though he had made the winning goal, 6 minutes before the end Afonso CARAMALHO (with his 4th goal of the tournament) showed Portugal also was able to score a well-executed penalty corner: 3-3.
This meant shoot-outs with goalkeepers Baltazar PORTUGAL and Necip ÇILKIZ to try to become their teams’ heroes. After 4 goals, Portugal was the first to miss. Turkey had the opportunity to come in front, but their 3rd shoot-out was missed when the awarded penalty stroke was saved by the goalkeeper: 2-2 after three shoot-outs each. Where Afonso CARAMALHO during the regulation time was able to score, during the shootouts his attempt went just wide. 2 converted shootouts later, Turkey had to score the 10th and last one to win the game. Celal AYDIN stayed cool and assured Turkey of the bronze medal.
Belarus v Czech Republic 4-0
The 15th and last match of the event was the Final between Belarus and the Czech Republic. The teams came into the event being relegated from the EuroHockey Championship II in 2019 (where they drew 1-1 in their mutual match) and both were 32nd equal on the FIH World Ranking at the start of this tournament.
As the World Ranking now changes after each match, it meant that before the start of the Final Czech Republic was 30th and Belarus 31st.
The first couple of minutes it was clear that Belarus had the better hand, getting the first goal on the score sheet via Uladzislau BELAVUSAU. A minute later Belarus got their first penalty corner, but they didn’t manage to execute it properly. Aliaksandr HANCHAROU doubled the score in the 18th minute for the Belarussian squad after converting a penalty stroke. The Czech team tried to come out of their own half and got a few shots, but were not able to score. Just before half-time, Uladzislau KOCHKIN was the endpoint of a nice Belarussian attack, which meant the 3-0. The Czech team had to regroup themselves to make something of the 2nd half.
Despite the Czech best efforts, it was again Belarus who came on the score sheet. Pavel KORSIK dribbled through the Czech defense making it 4-0. The last quarter showed some chances for Czech, but time after time the strong Belarus goalkeeper Aliaksei RAMANISHKIN assured a clean sheet for his team. The final result 4-0 and Belarus took home the gold medal.
The Best Goalkeeper Award went to Slovak goalkeeper Jakub BOGÁR
The Best Player Award went to Czech player Tomas PROCHÁZKA
The Topscorer Certificate was presented to Czech players Jan ŽELEZNÝ and Tomas PROCHÁZKA both scoring 5 goals
Rewatch the games on www.eurohockeytv.org
Photograph: Belarus
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