World Cup champions Germany win penalty shootout against the Dutch

World Cup champions Germany have been on the recovery trail. After a disastrous start, losing to India its initial games, Germany has now been on a better wicket. After holding the Netherlands to a 1-1 draw in the regulation period, it won its FIH Pro League encounter against the Netherlands via the penalty shoot-out to gain a valuable bonus point.

It was another day of top-class action as the FIH Hockey Pro League continued in Amsterdam. The Dutch women produced another dominant performance to thrill the home crowd, claiming a comprehensive 4-1 victory over New Zealand to assume top spot in the tournament standings above Argentina. There was no such joy for the Dutch men, however, who started in commanding fashion but were then edged out 4-1 in a shoot-out after the match finished 1-1.

New Zealand was playing catch-up from early on after Frédérique Matla easily worked her way around the Kiwi defence to fire the ball into the right of goal. Matla began the match level with Olivia Merry on the all-time FIH Hockey Pro League scorers list but the opener against the Black Sticks took her to the top with an impressive 29 goals.

The prolific Matla was also involved in the second goal when she worked her way into the circle and popped the ball through for Pien Dicke to pick it up and slot it in.

The Dutch continued their dominance in the second quarter with Maria Verschoor weaving her way along the baseline and nudging it across for Marente Barentsen to tap it in to take her side into half-time 3-0 up.

There was more of the same after the break, a free hit on the edge of the circle finding Felice Albers who pulled it back for Marijn Veen to provide the finish for the fourth Dutch goal. The Black Sticks managed to pull one back off a counterattack with just under five minutes left in the match, Rose Tynan crossing it in for Hannah Cotter to find the deflection in the air.

Maria Verschoor was named Player of the Match and said: “I think we can be very happy. We had a lot of chances so maybe we could be a little more efficient in the D but for the rest, I’m very happy with the result… Of course we didn’t want to have a goal against us but we are playing very forward and attacking so that’s the risk that we take. It’s fine, I think it’s a good result.”

In the men’s match, it was a hard-fought first quarter with both sides creating several scoring opportunities. With 30 seconds left to the first break, the home side finally found the back of the net. Tjep Hoedemakers handed it off to Thijs van Dam to cap off a great team goal.

The Dutch had the chance to double that lead in the second quarter when a long-range pass from Jonas de Geus found Thierry Brinkman in the circle, but his shot went wide and, despite the home side exerting all the more pressure, the score remained 1-0 at half-time.

Gonzalo Peillat levelled matters for Germany soon after the break, dragging into the bottom left of goal off a penalty corner. It was an action-packed third quarter, but the Dutch were denied another goal to break the deadlock, thanks in large part to the sterling efforts of German keeper Jean-Paul Danneberg.

Germany’s Justus Weigand missed a sitter in the dying minutes after Niklas Wellen had beaten the Dutch defence. The home side were then handed one final chance to win it when they were awarded a penalty corner with nine seconds remaining, but they couldn’t capitalise, sending the match into a shoot-out, which the Germans clinched 4-1.

Jean-Paul Danneberg was named Player of the Match and said: “It was an unbelievable feeling to play in front of this crazy crowd and in this weather but we managed it very well so it’s very nice… We focused more on the easy things and did our management a bit better and that was the main focus in the second half.”