Hockey World Cup: Inhibited when shooting on goal – sport

It couldn’t be better. The German hockey players have reached the semi-finals with their third win in the knockout round of the World Cup. Instead of going home after the 1-0 win against New Zealand, they travel from the tableau venue in Amstelveen/Netherlands to the final venue in Terrassa/Spain and have a chance of winning a medal. In return, they had not only once again defeated an equally strong opponent, but also a nominally superior team. This time even without any luck in the game, but because of the better performance. The team of national coach Valentin Altenburg could be fully satisfied, but that is not so easy. Because Altenburg’s players have to improve in a central discipline: They have to score (more) goals.

Again, the Germans leave numerous penalty corners unused

This 1-0 was the second after the round of 16. The problem: it should have ended at least 4-0, just like before against South Africa. Most notably, the Germans failed to take their penalty corners again, and in large numbers. There were 27 in the knockout stages, so they had entered the opponent’s circle as often as they did, but in the end they only scored one goal per game. So Altenburg has to praise the team for their defensive performance, but also warn them that they have to improve the penalty corners and simply hit them in order to win a medal, although the coach mustn’t dampen the feeling of success. The opponents won’t get any easier, in the semifinals on Saturday Altenburg’s team will meet either England or Argentina.