The German women’s national hockey team easily reached the semi-finals at the European Championships in Mönchengladbach. Opponent will be Belgium.
In the last preliminary round game, the selection of the German Hockey Association (DHB) won 5-0 against Ireland on Tuesday (08/22/2023). With that, she moves into the semi-finals as group winners with the best number of points and without conceding a goal, thus avoiding the Netherlands.
Instead, the “Danas” will play against Belgium on Thursday from 8 p.m. for a place in the final. The game will be broadcast live by the sports show.
Sonja Zimmerman, who used the first penalty corner to score in the seventh minute, and Pauline Heinz (23′) gave Germany a reassuring lead against Ireland. Nike Lorenz followed up with a double strike (51st/52nd), Jette Fleschütz scored the last goal for a clear win.
“In the end we did well, but in between we gave in a bit”said Heinz critically. “We’re looking forward to Belgium now. It was good that we were able to fine-tune our tactics a bit.”
Ireland missed out on the semi-finals and must yield to England to take on the Netherlands at 5pm on Thursday.
final on Saturday
The final on Saturday (08/26/2023) begins at 2:45 p.m. Before that, the bronze medal will be played at 12:15 p.m.
As in the previous games, in which Scotland (4-0) and England (5-0) were clearly beaten, Germany got into the game well. The fans had to wait less than seven minutes in the well-attended hockey park until it was 1-0. Zimmermann hit the right corner of the first penalty corner after a nice variation.
Heinz with a goal worth seeing
Afterwards, the selection of the German Hockey Association (DHB), most recently European champion in 2013, controlled the game – initially without shining. However, that was what striker Heinz did, skilfully plucking a half-high cross out of the air in the middle of the second quarter and hitting the ball into the far corner to make it 2-0.
National coach Valentin Altenburg used the second half to help goalkeeper Noelle Rother, who replaced the strong Julia Sonntag, to make her first European Championship appearance. The 27-year-old was able to distinguish herself a few times, even if the people in front didn’t allow too much.
Ireland takes goalkeeper off the field early
Ireland took the goalkeeper off in favor of an additional field player with almost 20 minutes to go – but this measure also fizzled out. Germany scored several times into the empty goal and easily brought the victory over time.