Boys EuroHockey U18 Championship (Krefeld, Germany)
Belgium will play Germany in the final of the boys EuroHockey U18 Championship in Krefeld following two mad-cap semi-final battles against the Netherlands and Spain, respectively.
The Belgians were the first to make it through to the final via a shoot-out after normal time ended 2-2. Jacky van Hout’s penalty corner was the only goal of the first half and put the Dutch in front.
Charlie Langendries equalised but van Hout put the Netherlands ahead once more in the 48th minute, 2-1. Langendries once more, though, sent the game to shoot-out with his seventh goal of the tournament.
There, Alexis van Havere was introduced in the Belgian goal and he made a series of good saves while Huge Molenaar scored vital goals in the last round of regulation shoot-outs and then again in sudden death for a 3-2 success.
Next, the hosts won the second semi final in one of the craziest games ever seen on this stage, winning 8-6 against Spain.
The drama started from minute one with Andrés Medina scoring with just 55 seconds gone. Germany responded with the next three for a strong 3-1 lead at half-time and they looked to be comfortable when they were 5-1 ahead when George Muhle scored his second in the 43rd minute.
Spain continued to fight, however, with Ton Moran cutting the gap. And they sniffed a chance when Jonas Cofalla was shown a red card with 12 minutes to go.
It came amid a run of seven goals in an 11-minute spell with Spain getting four of them but Germany always stayed just out of reach by a couple of goals to make it through.
In the 7th to 9th place playoffs, Ireland defeated Poland 6-1 with Matthew McKee scoring a hat-trick. It means Ireland will play Austria on Sunday for seventh overall while Poland end in ninth place.
The final will take place at 2.30pm (CET) while the bronze match is at 10am (CET); on pitch 2, Austria face Ireland for seventh at 9am (CET) and Scotland take on England at 11.15am (CET).
** Get your U18’s LIVESTREAM PASS HERE: https://www.eurohockeytv.org/en-int/page/event-pass-u18-championships
