First with difficulty, then clearly
Hockey men storm into the EM semifinals
08/23/2023 11:32 p.m
The home EM has been a roller coaster for the German hockey men, but it now seems to be picking up speed. Because after the bumpy start, things are going well: The reigning world champions also clearly beat France and are in the semi-finals.
Hockey world champion Germany has reached another milestone on its journey to winning the next title and is again in the semi-finals of a European championship. The European Championship record winner defeated France 4-1 (1-1) in the third preliminary round match in Mönchengladbach in the evening and, as the winner of Group B, will meet England in the semi-finals on Friday at 9 p.m., just like at the last European Championship in 2019. The second semi-final (18.30) will see defending champions Netherlands, who beat Wales 8-1, and Belgium.
In the Gladbach Hockey Park, captain Mats Grambusch (24th minute), Lukas Windfeder (31st), Gonzalo Peillat (39th) and Thies Prinz (42nd) scored the goals for the DHB selection, which has now been in ten tournament games in a row WM and EM is undefeated. Charles Masson (26th) was successful for the French.
His team sometimes needs a certain amount of pressure, said national coach André Henning after the bumpy start against Wales (3-3) and the subsequent convincing 3-0 win over the Netherlands. So the game against the French, who lost 5-1 to Germany in January at the World Cup, was not a sure-fire success.
The 11th in the world rankings, who has never been able to win against Germany at a European Championship, still had a chance of reaching the semi-finals, but needed the first success against the DHB selection. And the French forced the hosts to do the hard work. Even after Mats Grambusch’s opening goal after a penalty corner, France immediately came back and equalized.
Despite a missed penalty by Tom Grambusch, further goals from Windfeder, Peillat and Prinz in the second half led to the German team’s deserved victory.