England triumph over Germany by 3-2 at the Rabo Men’s Four-Nation hockey tournament
England defeated the German men’s team in their final round robin match of the Rabo Four-Nation tournament by 3-2, held on July 2, in Amstelveen, Netherlands.
The day became all the more special for Rob Moore from England, completing his 200 international caps at the match. However, in spite of the win, England was looking forward to the results of the last match of the event that was to be held between Pakistan
and Netherlands later that day.
According to the team’s manager, Andy Halliday, "It was a good win. Some people are talking about using this tournament as preparation for the European Championships but for us it is about getting into that winning mentality more regularly."
In the first half, Germany dominated the game for long periods and came across a lead score in the 23rd minute, when Thilo Stralkowski converted the team’s first penalty-corner and setting scores at 1-0.
With just three minutes into the half-time, England levelled the scores with an equaliser, when Alastair Brogdon scored a goal in the 32nd minute mark and the first-half closed, with scores knotted at 1-1.
During the second half, Germany did not wait long to earn back their lead, when Oliver Korn scored a goal on the 38th minute.
England’s Iain Mackay levelled the scores back with his 49th minute goal at 2-2 with a tremendous goal that went past the German goal-keeper, Max Weinhold.
England turned stronger as the match led towards the conclusion and was dominating with the ball possession.
With just two minutes left in the game, a heroic shot by the celebrating English player, Moore, broke the score deadlock at 2-2 when Mark Pearn’s pass was successfully directed by him into the goal, beating Weinhold and sealing victory at 3-2 for England.
England’s coach, Jason Lee, commented at the end of the match, “It was a big game for us, a high quality game in which we were competitive for long periods.”
With this victory and Pakistan’s loss to Netherlands by 4-0 at the end of the day, England was placed second in the event ranking under the host team, Netherlands. Moreover, Germany was third, whereas Pakistan was at the bottom at the fourth ranking.
The ranking was evaluated on the basis of total wins, draws and defeats followed by total points, number of goals attempted and conceded.
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