S2H Team

The Netherlands took some gloss off Belgium’s FIH Pro League title when they beat the Red Lions 4-0 at the Sportcentrum Wilrijkse Plein-Antwerp on Sunday.

More significantly, the Dutch, made a huge statement ahead of the European Championships starting in Amstelveen on June 4 where they could meet Belgium in the knockout stage as well as the Tokyo Olympics in July-August where the teams find themselves in the same pool. Belgium are runaway leaders of the nine-nation league decided on percentage success in the wake of a Covid-ravaged sporting world that has seen many events impacted and matches canceled.

Australia won the inaugural league (2019-2020) with Belgium finishing second.

Germany are second on the table, India third and the Dutch fourth. However fifth-placed Australia and seventh-placed New Zealand will play the last double header in Perth on June 26 and 27 which may impact the first three spots if the former wins.

Great Britain, New Zealand, Argentina and Spain occupy sixth to ninth places. The Kiwis can leapfrog Great Britain should they take maximum points from their doubleheader against Australia.

Playing earlier, the Netherlands women retained the title with a 3-0 victory over Belgium.

The Netherlands men played to near perfection on the day. They stifled Belgium’s creativity with the full press and denied the World Champions’ space and possession which they hogged at 68 percent.

The Dutch registered 20 circle penetrations that resulted in 11 shots on goal. Belgium’s 16 circle entries produced just six. The Dutch also held the edge on a 4-2 penalty corner count.

Player of the match was Thierry Brinkman, son of Jacques who won gold medals in the Dutch shirt at the 1996 and 2000 Olympics and the 1990 and 1998 World Cups.

Brinkman had a hand in the first two goals. In the 18^th minute, he set up Roel Bovendeert to score with a lunging attempt and in the 29^th minute produced an enterprising reverse hit for the marauding Mirco Pruijser to score.

On 35 minutes, Seve van Ass put the Dutch 3-0 from the slip ball by Minke van der Werden during a penalty corner and  Brinkman ended the match as a contest when he slotted home from close after Jeroen Hertzberger made a telling pass.

“I think we had a good day”, said Player of the Match Brinkman. “It is just one game, so it was a good day for us and maybe they did not play their best game. But we are happy with the win, of course. This was our first game after a long period playing with our clubs, so it’s good that we scored four goals against maybe the best team in the world.”

Reflecting on the defeat, Belgium captain Thomas Briels said: “It was our first really big game so we were really excited, and it didn’t go the way we wanted it to go. For us, it’s feet on the ground and we learned a lot of lessons today. We have a lot of work to do. We can analyze this game, but I think we need to be sharper and play at 100 percent or else we will lose every game. It was not sharp enough today.”

The Netherlands women marked their second successive FIH Hockey Pro League title by securing a 3-0 triumph over a Red Panthers side that gave a very good account of itself against the top-ranked team in world hockey.

RESULTS

Sunday 30 May 2021 – Antwerp (BEL)

Women
Belgium 0, Netherlands 3 
Player of the Match:Malou Pheninckx (NED)
Umpires: Laurine Delforge (BEL), Celine Martin-Schmets (BEL) and Coen van Bunge (NED – video)

Men
Belgium 0, Netherlands 4 
Player of the Match: Thierry Brinkman (NED)
Umpires: Coen van Bunge (NED), Jonas van ‘t Hek (NED) and Laurine Delforge (BEL – video)