On Tuesday, August 6, 2024, two teams scored big goals and celebrated even more. They had earned their spots in the finals of men’s hockey at the Olympic Games in Paris.
There were a lot of people at Yves-du-Manoir Stadium on Thursday as the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, and India competed for the two spots in the gold medal match.
In the first semifinal, the Netherlands played Spain in a game where the winner went to the gold medal game.
The men in orange emerged successful, beating their opponents 4-0. Unfortunately, the Spanish team lost, but they will need to bounce back if they want to join the Netherlands on the podium by winning the bronze medal match on Thursday as well.
India’s hopes of winning a gold title were crushed in the last few minutes of their game against Germany in the other semi-final, which was even worse. Germany won 3-2.
Game of the Day: Germany vs. India
India hadn’t been in an Olympic hockey gold medal game since the 1980 games in Moscow. Their only goal was to end that streak by beating Germany on Tuesday.
That was a great start for India’s captain Harmanpreet Singh. He scored a penalty corner in the first half to put his team ahead.
But India’s defense would let them down in the second half, giving up two penalty corners and one penalty shot. In the first penalty corner, Gonzalo Peillat made the goal for Germany, and in the second, Christopher Ruehr scored the goal.
India launched a fierce comeback on the German goal when they were behind 2-1. For the first time in the game, Sukhjeet Singh scored on a penalty corner after many failed tries.
In the fourth quarter, both teams pushed the attack, making it a very close game. The game was tied until 54 minutes, when Marco Miltkau of Germany scored the game-winning goal that sent his team to the gold-medal final.
Miltkau said, “It just feels amazing.” The crowd was amazing, but it was people from both India and Germany.
“It’s amazing to play in the Olympics for the first time.” Now it’s even better to play in the final.”
On Thursday, August 8, Germany will play the Netherlands for the gold title.
Players of the day: 6 August
Jip Jannsen of the Netherlands and Ruehr of Germany both made big plays from the penalty area, scoring one penalty stroke each.
Jannsen said, “Of course I’m training a lot on penalty strokes because they can make or break the game.” “Today I’m glad to have helped the team and that they gave me a chance to score.”
The Dutch goalie Pirmin Blaak was also in great shape. He stopped seven shots on goal by the Spanish offense.
Coach Jeroen Delmee from the Netherlands praised his work. “To be honest, I don’t think we created too many chances,” Delmee said. “But we were just very good today, and our goalie did a great job stopping some penalty corners to make sure they couldn’t get back into the game.”
India didn’t win their semi-final, but Singh had a good day because he scored on his only penalty corner. They hope that his goal gives the team more confidence before their bronze-medal game against Spain on Thursday.
Hockey results for 6 August
Netherlands 4 – 0 Spain
Germany 3 – 2 India
What’s next in Paris 2024 hockey tournament? Schedule for 7 August
- 14:00: Netherlands vs. Argentina in the women’s semi-final
- 19:00: Belgium plays the People’s Republic of China in the women’s semi-final.