FIH Pro League: China-W Triumphs Over Belgium-W, Netherlands Edges Past Germany in Shootout
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Lausanne, Dec 1 (NationPress) The latest season of the FIH Hockey Pro League kicked off with two exciting matches featuring three teams that competed in the gold-medal matches at Paris 2024.
The women's teams opened the tournament in Hangzhou, where the Olympic silver medalists, China, faced off against the third-ranked Belgium for the first time since their intense semifinal clash in Paris. Once again, the Chinese team emerged victorious in a shootout.
Over the past year, the Chinese have posed challenges to the world's elite teams, most recently eliminating Belgium from the Paris Olympics in a semifinal shootout before narrowly losing to the Dutch in the gold-medal match. They commenced their FIH Hockey Pro League journey with high hopes, dominating significant portions of a fast-paced first half, culminating in Xu Wenyu scoring from a penalty corner in the 20th minute.
Zou Meirong increased China’s advantage in the 32nd minute, capitalizing on a rebound from a penalty corner. However, the momentum shifted when Liu Hua was suspended for 10 minutes in the third quarter, yet Belgium struggled to capitalize on this opportunity.
In the final quarter, the Red Panthers ignited their performance, with Michelle Struijk scoring via a deflected shot from a well-executed penalty corner variation in the 50th minute. Belgium gained confidence in the closing minutes, generating several chances until Justine Rasir equalized from a penalty corner rebound with just two minutes left in the match. A tense conclusion failed to yield more goals, leading to a shootout where China replicated their previous success from Paris to earn the bonus point.
Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, the men's tournament kicked off with the defending FIH Hockey Pro League champions, the Netherlands, facing Germany in a rematch of the Olympic final. As in Paris a few months earlier, the Dutch triumphed once more, again in a shootout.
The Netherlands and Germany played to a close 1-1 tie before the hosts outperformed Germany 4-1 in the shootout for an additional point. The Dutch had recently edged out Germany in a heated gold-medal match at the Paris Olympics, and they aggressively attacked early in the rematch, forcing Alexander Stadler to save a drag flick in the second minute. Germany quickly settled into the game and began to establish control. Mauritz Visser made two crucial saves for the Dutch, including one from an 11th-minute penalty corner. The second quarter was a tightly contested battle with both teams struggling to create chances until the final moments of the half. Stadler initially thwarted a weakly struck shot from the Dutch two minutes before halftime, but he could not stop Thierry Brinkman’s cross, which deflected off a German defender to give the hosts a 1-0 lead.
The Dutch maintained their momentum in the final quarter, with only the post denying last season’s top scorer, Jip Janssen, from scoring with a drag flick. Janssen later pushed another drag flick wide with six minutes remaining, and Germany remained in contention when they pulled their goalkeeper with just over three minutes left. Raphael Hartkopf found the equalizer with a field goal in the 58th minute, and Germany nearly clinched victory in the dying seconds. However, the Dutch recovered to comfortably win the shootout, much to the delight of their home fans.
