Netherlands maintain unbeaten record despite German’s late surge
It was always going to be a cracker of a game when the two giant of European hockey met in the final game of the day at the Kyocera Stadium. Germany versus the Netherlands had the prospect of a fiercely contested and high quality match written all over it and it didn’t disappoint. The fact that a first half goal, scored by Jeroen Hertzberger (19′), was the only time the ball found the back of the net did nothing to diminish the entertainment value of this match.
It was a game that Germany needed to win to keep their hopes of making it to the semi-final alive, and it was a game that the Netherlands wanted to win to maintain their 100 per cent winning run in this World Cup. Add the fact that 15,000 people were cheering the teams on and the setting was perfect for a humdinger of a contest.
Two saves by Nicolas Jacobi in quick succession in the opening five minutes set the tone of the match. The opening minutes largely went the way of the Netherlands, with wave after wave of orange shirts pressing the hard-working German defence. The first piece of brilliance came from Jacobi when he made a double save from, first, Billy Bakker and then the follow-up shot from Robbert Kemperman. The fact that one shot was low to his right and in the corner and the second was high over his head just amplified the big man’s agility.
Germany soaked up another 10 minutes of pressure, with captain Maximilian Muller marshalling his defence and throwing his body on the line to halt the Dutch tidal surge. At the other end, Mats Grambusch continued to repay coach Marcus Weise’s faith in him by pressurising the Netherlands defence with his darting runs.
The deadlock was broken in the 19th minute when Jelle Galema ran the ball round the German defence and slipped back for Jeroen Hertzberger to fire home and give the Netherlands the lead. This was nearly doubled in the 32nd minute when Robbert Kemperman drew another top save from Jacobi after Sander Baart had sliced the German defence apart with a surging run from the half-way line.
The second half began brightly for Germany as 2013 FIH Player of the Year Tobias Hauke created space for himself and then used a neat pass to release Christopher Zeller down the right-hand side of the pitch. However, the Dutch defended solidly, overturned the ball, and soon Germany was facing two consecutive Mink van Weerden penalty corners. Uncharacteristically, the specialist drag flicker was unable to get his shots away and the score remained with just the one goal difference.
With 20 minutes left on the clock the action raised a notch higher as Rogier Hofman picked up the ball and ran at the German defence, only to see Muller clear the ball with an aerial that left Florian Fuchs with space in front of goal. Stockmann met the challenge and cleared, but seconds later the Netherlands defence were under the cosh again as Grambusch took the ball along the line and slipped to Martin Zwickers, whose neatly turned shot trickled tantalisingly along the goal-line, but still failed to go in.
The final 15 minutes was a case of attack and counter-attack as the match continued at a blistering pace. There were chances at both ends – both Benjamin Wess and Benedict Furks will look back in sorrow at their missed opportunities, and the entire German team will know they should have made more of their penalty corner chances.
There was a moment of high drama in the closing minutes of the game. A Mink van Weerden drag flick was hit so hard that it broke Martin Haner’s stick in half. In the ensuing carnage, the Netherlands played on and Jacobi pulled off yet another magnificent save, to give his team the slenderest lifeline.
With mere seconds left on the clock, Germany won one last opportunity to save the game. As the ensuing penalty corner shot wide, the large orange contingent in the crowd erupted in delight as the Netherlands continued their march to the semi-finals.
“It was a tough game,” said German coach Markus Weise. “We needed to create chances, which we did. We had penalty corners, which we failed to convert. I am not going to find a tree and hang myself.”
Germany still have a slight chance of making the semi-finals but as Weise pointed out: “We have to rely on other results and that is never good. We are going to focus on the things we can influence.”
A delighted Robbert Kemperman paid tribute to the German team. “That was always going to be a tough game. They are a quality side who will always come back at you. Today we were lucky and Jaap had a great game in goal. This is a crazy feeling and winning in front of this home crowd was also crazy.”