That Men’s Hockey Gold Medal Final was unbelievable to watch, particularly in the 4th and final quarter as well as penalty shootouts between the Netherlands and Germany. Both teams struggled to find the net for the most part until Netherlands found the first strike before Germany held them back at a penalty corner to bring it to a penalty shootout following a 1-1 draw in an hour’s worth of normal time. From then on, Germany unfortunately unable to get away with any successful strokes that paved the way for the Dutch to end their 24-year drought for gold at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir since Sydney 2000 – which was mission accomplished 3-1 in a penalties decider that completed payback from their London 2012 runner-up loss v Germany.
Now the Dutch can finally celebrate gold off the back of their top form where they’ve always been the best of the best in yearly FIH Pro League matches including this Olympics Field Hockey tournament. Shoutout to the experienced keeper Pirmin Blaak who never looked out of place every time he deflected these strikes from the Germans while the defense wasn’t bad and their penalty shooters have been brilliant through the net that sealed them a long-awaited Olympics gold. Now what the Dutch needs to do now is win back both the Pro League & the World Cup. The next Men’s World Cup will be in 2026 on home soil in Amstelveen alongside Belgium’s Wavre and the last time they’ve accomplished that feat was also previously on home soil at Utrecht back in 1998 with the 3-2 extra time win v Spain.
Heartbreak from Germany with the silver medal as this is the side who also has been at their best but only at major tournaments, such as last year’s World Cup tournament in India and not when it comes to regular season form often v the top teams (6th in 23/24 Pro League term). Their defense wasn’t bad either to start off with & they’ve also benefitted from winning penalties as we’ve seen with the successful penalty corner in the last 15 mins that gave themselves another chance to try win another major title in the form of an Olympics Games gold medal. It’s a shame that their penalty attackers weren’t prepared well to press the experienced Dutch keeper at his own end where he kept all of these hit and miss shots before they well & truly know that the Dutch can have their cake with the gold medal by then following a 3-1 penalties loss there. They may have been great winning these rare tournament titles, but Germany needs to find a way if they wish to beat these top teams more often – so they can hopefully be the No.1 Men’s Hockey team in the World once again next time.
Now we’ve got the women’s gold medal match to decide before the Olympics Field Hockey program is done tomorrow morning between the Netherlands and China as China’s head coach & former Hockeyroo Alyson Annan is set for mighty Dutch reunion this time as the opposing team. Will that Dutch triumph extend to the women’s team after we just saw with the men earlier this morning? Or will we see a Chinese breakthrough at last with the help of Annan following their Beijing 2008 silver medal loss to that same team last time out? It’s all to play for between these two strong teams at Stade Yves-Du-Manoir.
