The race to be crowned champions of the Odisha Men’s Hockey World League Final Bhubaneswar 2017 got underway last evening, with Germany finishing the day at the top of Pool B after two hugely entertaining matches at the Kalinga Stadium.
Germany’s Die Honamas were in action against England―a team that had beaten Germany to the bronze medal at the Rabo Euro Hockey Championships in Amsterdam earlier this year―in the opening match of the day, and left the field rightfully pleased with their afternoon's work.
Although England were the better side in the opening quarter, Germany were excellent in the second period and went ahead when Hockey Stars Male Player of the Year 2017 nominee Mats Grambusch coolly fired into an open goal to finish off a rapid counter-attack.
Germany’s advantage was doubled ahead of half time when the ever-dangerous Christopher Ruhr was given a clear sight of goal and made no mistake with his strike, firing into the bottom left corner beyond the outstretched right leg of Hockey Stars Male Goalkeeper of the Year nominee George Pinner.
Attacking star Florian Fuchs had a hand in both of Germany’s goals, putting to bed any doubts that he would need time to rediscover his international form after taking more than a year away from the game.
Germany could easily have added to their tally in the third and fourth quarters, with Marco Miltkau and Rühr both going close before the match finished with the score at 2-0.
The victory was a perfect way for Germany team captain Martin Haner to mark his 200th international appearance, while match umpire Eduardo Lizana was awarded his Golden Whistle in recognition of umpiring 100 international matches, a marker he reached in Glasgow, Scotland earlier this year.
“I’m absolutely delighted about the win”, said goal-scorer Mats Grambusch, who was named Man of the Match presented by Odisha New Opportunities, after the contest. “I think we had a poor first quarter but got better and better. The other three quarters we played good hockey and defended well, so I think we deserved the win. We are looking forward to our next match (against Australia) as we haven’t played them for a while, so we are going to focus on recovery and hopefully we can get another win tomorrow.”
The competition will continue on Saturday,with four potentially thrilling matches taking place. The day begins with two encounters in Pool A, with Olympic champions Argentina and Olympic silver medallists Belgium meeting before European champions the Netherlands take on Spain.
Germany will also take on Australia in their second Pool B clash, with India going head-to-head with England at in front of a stadium that will surely be packed to the rafters.
