S2H Team

Sebastien Dockier celebrated his 200^th cap in a Red Lions shirt with two spectacular goals in the World Cup and European champions’ 3-2 victory over hosts Spain on Friday as the FIH Pro League re-started after a three-month hiatus in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Belgium captain Thomas Briels scored in between Dockier’s strikes with a splendid individual goal to make it 2-0 before the Spanish fought back to level at 2-2 by the third quarter. Dockier, however, sealed three points for the table leaders to swell their tally to 29 points – a clear 11-point lead over nearest rivals The Netherlands who have played three matches fewer. Spain have seven from nine matches and are in seventh place of the nine-nation league.

Xavi Lleonart also completed his “double century” for Spain and found himself on the scoresheet with the equalizing goal from a well worked out penalty corner and the home side came close to sharing spoils and taking the encounter to the shootout for a bonus point when a goal on the dot of the hooter was disallowed for the five-yard stipulation not adhered to from a free-hit just outside the circle.

The Belgians looked like overrunning the Spaniards in the early moments of play and the World No. 1 team were all over the home side’s defence, pressing deep into their territory in the first quarter.  It was just midway through the first session that Spain were able to get a sight at Belgium’s goal but the hosts fell behind when Gauthier Boccard on the right crossed on the run to inspire Dockier to effect a deft back-hand touch past Quico Cortes’ in goal in the eighth minute.

Spain were denied by the post from the game’s first penalty corner as the hosts began to assert themselves but Belgium continued to call the shots, reflected by their domination of circle penetrations (22-12) in the match.

With just a minute to go for the two-minute quarter time break, Briels displayed a touch of individual magic, waltzing past the defence to slam past Cortes and make it 2-0.

Spain, ranked World No. 9, needed a sliver of luck to get back into the contest and it came when David Alegre touched home a bobbling ball that sneaked into the goal between Vincent Vanasch’s pads with barely a minute left for end of the first quarter.

Belgium could have gone 3-1 ahead in the second quarter but Cortez denied Victor Wegnez with a quality save to block the young forward’s full-blooded shot.

The Spanish may have cursed their luck when another attempt, from their second penalty corner, rattled the upright but they were not to be denied when Lleonart hauled his team to level terms from a well-worked penalty corner with the fourth and final quarter a minute away.

Belgium enjoyed the edge as battle lines were drawn with the game well and truly poised for a take-no-prisoners battle and Charlier missed a golden opportunity at hand-shaking distance from the goal when he bore his stick down to a cross from the right a split second too late to effect a deflection.

But player-of-the-match Dockier wasn’t to be denied victory celebration on his milestone day, scoring in much the same manner as his first goal, lunging to deflect this time high into the net in the 51st minute to ensure an outright win and full points for the Red Lions.

Spain pressed for the equalizer but the intricacy of the rules did them in when the ball took an attacking touch into Vanasch’s goal as the hooter sounded. The teams meet again at the Estadio Betero stadium in Valencia on Saturday at the same time.

“We had two difficult quarters where we didn’t keep the ball enough,” said Dockier. “I think the quarters where we did, we created more chances and we scored, so that was the difference today. The main goal today was to just have a really good feeling about being back with the boys on the pitch. It was all about having fun and enjoying being with each other.”

Spain captain Miguel Delas was disappointed but proud of his team’s performance and hopes his team will bounce back when the two teams meet again.  “I have mixed feelings,” said Delas. “On one side it was really nice to play again after one year. I think that both teams were looking forward to starting again in the competition. But of course, we wanted to start with a win. Today I think we played a really good match, but we had a tough game in front of us. In the end, we have to be proud of what we did, and we are lucky that tomorrow we have another game, so we will go for it.”

Umpires Francisco Vasquez (Spain) and Jakub Mejzlik (Czech Republic) acquitted themselves creditably in the absence of the TV umpire who could not appear in Valencia in the wake of Covid-19 travel and administrative protocol.