Belgium and the Netherlands in just 48 hours was a lot of heat for the men’s hockey team. The vibrant performance of Sunday in the quarterfinals was a long way off on Tuesday against the orange The sun was beating down on the Yves-du-Manoir stadium. Thijs Van Dam’s 3-0 early in the second half buried the last of the Reds. There was no more debate and the other half of the match only served to fulfil the formality. The final was many blocks away and on Thursday, at 2:00 p.m. (TVE and Eurosport), they will fight for bronze against the loser of the Germany-India match at 7:00 p.m.
The mountain was gigantic. The Dutch lead the way. ranking world championship and Spain is eighth. But Belgium also seemed unreachable and the team squared the circle. It didn’t happen twice in a row.
Marc Reyné had a point-blank chance right from the start, the goalkeeper saved him with those giant sponges that cover almost the entire body, and there was no more dispute at Colombes Stadium One. The Dutch did not let anything go by: after 12 minutes, Jip Janssen converted a penalty and after 20, Thierry Brinkman put it in the top corner. The despondency and helplessness at half-time was total. The coup de grace orange It happened right at the start of the second half, when Van Dam took advantage of a defensive indecision and crossed it in to the far post. Duco Tengenkamp scored the fourth.
Inferiority leaves Spain without a final, but the chance of a medal, an objective that was difficult to foresee at the start of the tournament, remains intact. Since Beijing 2008, it has not won a medal and in its entire history it has only achieved it on four occasions: bronze in Rome 60 and three silvers (Moscow 80, Atlanta 96 and Beijing 2008).
Late Middle Ages
The Redsticks arrived in Paris with a very renewed team, in which only five of the expedition members (Álvaro Iglesias, José Basterra, Álex Alonso, Joaquín Menini and Marc Recasens) had Olympic experience. The average age is less than 25 years old. The most logical thing was to think that perhaps in Los Angeles 2028, with four more years of experience, they could aspire to the final stages. But sport and its twists and turns placed Spain in a semi-final and now in the fight for bronze.
The Spanish coach, the Argentine Max Caldas, with a reputation for being a humane and communicative man, spoke to the players in an educational tone in the opening minutes. He has made a career in the Netherlands, with both national teams. With the men’s team, he was twice European champion (2015 and 2017) and runner-up in the world championship (2018). So few are as aware as he is of the size of the challenge they had ahead of them. The team, sixth in the last World Cup and European Championship in 2023 and second to last in the Pro League last season, suffered its fourth consecutive defeat against Holland. Within 48 hours, the fight for bronze, which would be considered a great success, will begin.
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