It was a brilliant contest really where the host nation France and Spain did so well to try and walk away with the win with a few goals each in the bag but both teams had to settle for a draw though after 60 minutes of play 3-3 all that kickstarted Tuesday’s Field Hockey Olympics activities at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir (Pitch 1). France had the early lead with back-to-back goals for a start during the first 15 mins before Spain got one back during the 2nd 15 with a one goal trail ahead of half-time.
From then on, Spain continued their fight by equalising France at the first attempt while the hosts yet found another goal via penalty corner to try and steer clear going into the final 15. Although Spain found another goal once more to level the scoreboard as the clock began to tick down, but again, a draw would be enough that denied the home team the win they badly wanted off the back of their brilliant start to the match. Spain will be back v South Africa later tomorrow/Thursday AM at 3.45 am AEST while France will take a day off before they take on Great Britain on Thursday night at 8.45pm AEST.
As said, love seeing both teams had a really good tussle with the ball on stick both defensively as well on the counter-attack through the break. For Spain, gotta say that less ball earlier on gave the French a really good opportunity to get the ball rolling that found a way to strike through the keeper but good to see them turn around though for the most part that could’ve been theirs to take home with the win had France not scored these two first 15 min goals. Gotta credit to their strong defensive structure as well as the way they attack that held the French their own nerves with more time via the attacking third.
Meanwhile, France pressed well on the counter from the beginning thanks to their dominant 1st half possession and they never gave up by not giving Spain a free pass – such as these winning penalties and intercepts through the middle to try and give the home crowd a really good chance to close the match for the win. Now their defense was okay but it’s just a shame that some ill-discipline/lost penalties have slipped away really where Spain had a good sniff at them that led to goals against the host nation where France should’ve done better to shut them down before they had to settle for a draw.
