Germany lost to Belgium in the semi-finals of the European Hockey Championships in Mönchengladbach. After conceding an early goal, the “Danas” failed on Thursday (08/24/2023) at 0: 1 (0: 1, 0: 0, 0: 0, 0: 0) at the opposing defense.
Emily White scored the only goal of the evening in the second minute. Germany will meet England in the game for third place on Sunday (12:15 p.m.). The final for the title will be played by Belgium and the Netherlands, who clearly won the first semi-final 7-0. The two nations were already in the final at a women’s World Cup in 2017, when the Netherlands won 3-0.
Sunday saves, Stapenhorst missed
The “Danas” had entered the semi-finals with a perfect record. In the preliminary round there were three clear victories against Scotland (4-0), England and Ireland (each 5-0). However, it took less than two minutes against Belgium before the period without conceding was over. After a counterattack, White and Viktoria Huse played one-on-one in the German circle, the Belgian prevailed and made it 1-0 with a backhand (2nd minute).
Belgium continued to be the better team after that, but goalkeeper Julia Sonntag saved Germany from going further behind. The 31-year-old made a strong save (9th) against Justine Rasir, who appeared free in front of her.
Shortly before the first break, the German team started attacking for the first time and earned the first penalty corner of the game. The first two attempts (which included other foot offenses) weren’t dangerous, but the third penalty corner almost equalized. After a strong combination, Charlotte Stapenhorst appeared just in front of the opponent’s goal, but couldn’t control the ball and pushed it wide of the goal (14′).
Germany is looking for the means for the Belgian defense bar
At the beginning of the second quarter, Germany needed Sunday’s class again, who saved from close range against White (19′). The 18-year-old repeatedly presented the “Dana” defense with major problems, but after all they managed to keep the game well away from their own goal. Germany took control and let the ball run in their own ranks. Belgium stood deep and successfully defended their own goal. So it remained after half the time at 0:1 from a German point of view.
Even after the break, the Belgian defense seemed insurmountable for Germany. Valentin Altenburg’s team continued to have the ball mostly, but almost exclusively in safe areas. It was only rarely possible to penetrate the opponent’s circle of shots, and attempts to get another penalty corner then failed.
Stapenhorst fails again tragically
At the beginning of the final quarter, the Germans finally became dangerous – but again Stapenhorst was unlucky. After a great one-on-one action, the striker finished with a backhand, but her shot hit the inside post and went out of the goal (47′). Just a few seconds later, Nike Lorenz tried a low shot, which the Belgian goalkeeper was able to parry (48′).
After a strong start, however, the efforts of the “Danas” became harmless again. And so coach Altenburg had to resort to the last resort, took goalkeeper Sunday out of the game four minutes before the end of the game and tried one more field player. But even this measure did not change the result, the Belgian defense withstood the last pressure from the Germans.