Germany crushes Czech Republic 10-0, secures place in semi-finals

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Ranchi (Jharkhand). Germany head coach Valentin Altenberg said his team needs to learn how to do better as he walked off the field after his team was held 1-1 by Japan in their Pool A match. The teams’ defense is strong as they will face more such opponents in the subsequent matches of the FIH Hockey Olympic Qualifiers here.

Taking lessons from that match, Germany came up with a better plan to defeat Czech Republic 10-0 at the Marang Gomke Jaipal Singh Astro-Turf Hockey Stadium here on Tuesday.

It was the biggest win for any team in the competition, bettering Chile’s 6-0 win on Sunday. This is the biggest win ever at the Jaipal Singh Astro-Turf Hockey Stadium.

The script initially looked like Germany’s previous encounter in which 2018 Asian Games gold medal winners Japan had all their players behind the ball in the first half and defended stoutly to thwart them.

After Germany scored, Jude Menezes’ team went on the attack and not only equalized the score, but also dominated the rest of the match and almost scored the winner.

So when the Czech Republic held them goalless in the first quarter of their final Pool A league match on Tuesday despite dominating possession, creating numerous chances and earning four penalty corners, Altberg must have felt a sense of déjà vu and dread. The script of Japan conflict was once again unfolding.

Germany scored twice in the second quarter to take a 2–0 lead at the end of the first half. Then they performed strongly in the third and fourth quarters, scoring eight goals and significantly improving their goal difference.

Sonja Zimmerman scored three goals in the 42nd, 46th and 52nd minutes, two of which were via penalty strokes.

Charlotte Steppenhorst (19th and 43rd minutes) and Jett Fleischutz (22nd and 4th minutes) scored two goals each, while captain Nike Lorenz (39th minute), Pauline Heinz (55th minute) and Celine Oruz (55th minute) scored one goal each. Contributed a goal. The Germans enjoyed the goal celebration.

In total, Germany received more than a dozen penalty corners, some of them resulting in penalty strokes, and scored two goals from PC and three from PS.

The win took Germany top of Pool A with seven points from three matches (two wins, one draw) and secured a place in the semi-finals. The second qualifying place from this group will be determined by the result of the match between Chile and Japan, with a win or a draw taking Japan through to the semi-finals.

–IANS

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