FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup: Germany becomes Double World Champions - Part 1
Both Men’s and Women’s indoor hockey teams from Germany managed to win the World Cup title at the FIH World Cup in Poznan on February 13.
Becoming double Champions, the German teams showed their tremendous talents in the sport. In the final match, the German Women managed to defeat the 2007 World Cup Champions, the Netherlands.
In the Women’s category, the Goalkeeper of the Tournament Title went to Germany’s Barbara Vogel. However, the Top Scorer with 11 goals in the tournament and the Player of the Tournament Award went to the Netherlands’ Captain Belle Van Meer. Poland’s Paulina
Okaj was awarded with the Best Under-21 Player title.
The final match of the Women’s team saw both competitors coming in undefeated in their respective pool matches. Kiki Collot d’ Escury of the Netherlands opened the match with a shot at the German goal. Dinah Gronde put in a tremendous effort to get a second
chance to score a goal. However, it was the Germans that were in the lead in the first half as Stephanie Frenz scored a goal.
During the second half, both teams battled it out for control of the match. The Germans played aggressively as their captain f***y Rennie was given a penalty corner. She managed to score a goal to take the Germans into a comfortable three goal lead.
Near the end of the match with only ten minutes left, the Netherlands replaced their goal-keeper to gain an extra player on the field. It was desperate move that seemed to have paid off as Kiki Collot managed to score her second goal to bring the lead down
to two goals. However, it was the Germans that played an overall high quality match as they managed to balance their offence with a brilliant defensive effort to win the game 4-2.
German Coach Kais Al Saadi said, "We tried to press The Netherlands very hard from the start to try to stop them playing. It worked very well for us and I am delighted."
Coach of the Netherlands, Jost Van Geel was unable to hide his disappointment in his squad as he praised the Germans for their tremendous performance. He was under the impression that his team had quite a few chances but was unable to finish strong. The
Netherlands were obviously disappointed as they were dominated by the Germans on the field. It was an exciting final match as both teams went all out to get a victory for the title. However, in the end it was the German Women that managed to dominate the Netherlands
and take the title in a comfortable fashion during the tournament.
Continued Part 2
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