FIH Pro League 2020: World Cup champions Belgium record 6-1 win over hosts Germany
FIH Pro League 2020, Belgium vs Germany, Hockey News: Belgium did it. As the FIH Pro League resumed after nearly six months of suspension due to the coronavirus pandemic, the defending World Cup champions Belgium men went on a scoring spree in the second half to defeat the hosts Germany 6-1.
With this win in the men's section, Belgium shared honours with Germany. Earlier, Germany defeated Belgium 2-0in the women's section.
The hero of Belgium's impressive win was Gauthier Boccard, who was later named man of the match.
In the post-match comment, Gauthier Boccard (Belgium) said: "I think we pressed well in the second quarter and the second half. We won some good balls in their half, and we started to get some early goals. For the rest, when you score three or four goals you can see the confidence. We had good ball possession and finished the game well."
Looking ahead to tomorrow's rematch, Boccard said his team would prepare 'the same way as we did today. We have to lift our level a bit more as we did by the end of the game. The second game will be different, it is zero-zero and we will go for a second win."
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It was a resounding win as the defending world cup champions played superb hockey in the third quarter besides displaying sparkles of brilliance throughout the game. Though both the teams showed signs of rustiness because of the long absence from international hockey still there were some scintillating moments that made the game absorbing and interesting.
It was Gauthier Boccard who scored a splendid opening goal for Belgium in the 26thj minute to set the scoring in motion. And the last goal, seventh of the game and sixth for Belgium, came in the 60th minute when Loick Luypaert scored from a powerful flick off a penalty corner award.
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Four minutes earlier Antoine Kina, who received a brilliant pass from near the midfield drove into the striking circle without being checked and managed to push the ball over the German goalkeeper Victor Aly to end with a superb finish. This goal virtually sealed the fate of the home team as Belgium took a commanding 5-1 lead.
A minute earlier (54th minute) it was a brilliant chance for Germany to reduce the margin when Lukas Windfeder, from a penalty corner nearly scored with a neat drag flick that rattled the right goal post but failed to hit the target.
Then it was the explosive third quarter, a nice reminder to all hockey fans to what all they had been missing. Belgium was rampant in the minutes after the half time taking the lead to 4-0 in rapid fashion before Germany pulled one back.
A Hendriks, William Ghilslane, and Nicolas de Kepler were the scorers for Belgium while Lukas Windfeder reduced the margin for the hosts.
-PTC News
