Delighted, ecstatic, calmed – and relieved. Those were the reactions of the German women hockey to the game against Ireland, and they hint at how that game went. They had taken the lead in the tenth minute of the game, thanks to a fine individual performance by Lisa Altenburg, which overran an opponent and then the ball from the edge of the circle argentinian, so against the running direction, hit the lower right corner. They had largely dominated the initially agitated game afterwards and increased it with a magical goal in the second half of the game: Kira Horn had played nicely into the penalty circle on Cecile Pieper, and she steered the ball into the goal with a light touch.
In the third quarter then a legitimate seven-meter after a penalty corner: Altenburg converted safely, the game seemed over, reached the fourth-final prematurely – but that was not true.
“The Irish are very difficult to grasp, they play extremely unorthodox, very physically,” Pieper had said before this game, and that was evident from the middle of the third quarter when the German women gave their opponents a little more space and a lot more time let. The Irish are known for catching up and small hockey miracles, in 2018, for example, when they were ranked 16th in the world, they were second in the World Cup. So suddenly they were on the trigger and came close to 2: 3 with goals from Elena Tice and Hannah McLoughlin (each after a penalty corner), and suddenly a game that had long been decided became a real test.
The next opponents are South Africa and the Netherlands
“There were too many corners against us. We make it unnecessarily exciting and let Ireland get back into the game too easily,” said national coach Xavier Reckinger afterwards. Pia Maertens added: “We allowed too much and gave them too many corners, which they did well twice. It speaks for our defense that we still haven’t allowed a field goal.”
There are moments like this, especially in tournaments with a group phase, that can have a decisive impact on the further course of an event. The hockey men, for example, drew the strength from their chase after a sleepy start against Belgium to win the extremely tricky game against Great Britain 5-1 and to be one of the favorites for a medal again. The women had turned their first game against Great Britain and won 2-1, then they had defeated India 2-0 – and now there was this test against the increasingly brash and gallant Irish women.
To cut a long story short: They passed this test because they took control of the game again and secured the 4-2 victory with a nice goal from Franzisca Hauke after a penalty corner. But it was clear to them how relieved they were afterwards that they had not given away this 3-0 lead.
After three wins in three games, the German women are qualified for the quarter-finals, the games against South Africa (Friday) and the Netherlands (Saturday) serve as the seeding list for the knockout round – and of course other tests. Or, as coach Reckinger says: “With South Africa we now have an opponent in the preliminary round that we will probably be superior to, and with the top favorite Netherlands one who will ask us questions and where we can and must significantly improve our defense and development game . ” Sounds like optimal preparation for the quarter-finals.
.
