Barbara Malda leads Spain to victory over Netherlands in EuroHockey Nations Championship in Germany
Solitary strike by Barbara Malda early in the first half led the Spanish women to an important victory as they defeated their Dutch counterparts, who recently won the FIH Women’s Champions Trophy held in Amsterdam, by 1-0 in their second Pool A match of
the GANT EuroHockey Nations Championship (women), played at the Warsteiner Hockey Park in Monchengladbach, Germany on Sunday, August 21.
With the victory the Spanish have closed one step towards the semi-final if the competition. The Spanish will be up against Azerbaijan, which yesterday defeated Italy by 5-3 in a fine fashion, in their next fixture on Tuesday, August 23.
It was a very hard fought game where both the teams showed daring efforts fighting tooth and nail throughout the entire course of action. The game was played in a highly competitive environment where the Spanish took the early lead in the first thirty five
minutes that lasted until the close of the play. The Spanish remained quite clinical in their defence throughout the match as they did not provide the easy chances to the Dutch instead they displayed obsolete defending efforts throughout the match. Although
the Dutch also created a number of good scoring opportunities both of the halves yet they remained scoreless and ended the game without ticking the scoreboard.
The first half started with an early action by the Spanish as they took the early lead just six minutes into the first half when they were awarded a penalty corner in the 6th minute. Barbara Malda made no mistake in converting the penalty corner
into their opening goal of the match which proved the last later on. The Spanish further created good chances but there was no success for them in the remaining of the first half. The first half ended at 1-0 to Spain.
The second half was even tougher as the Dutch looked much desperate to open their account and bring the Spanish lead down but they could not utilise their chances and ended the game without scoring.
Save Indurain, the coach of the Spanish looked delighted with the performance of his athletes, especially with the goalkeeper, Maria Lopez de Eguilaz, who acted as a wall in front of the Dutch attack, against the top quality side of Netherlands. He also
commented that the victory is a great reward for their hard work and it is the first step towards the London Olympics.
The Spanish put in a tremendous performance on the field as they managed to contain the Dutch offence from scoring any goals throughout the entire match. The Spanish will be looking to carry their winning momentum into their next match-up.
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