Belgium's women's and men's teams made it a weekend to remember for their home supporters, with both teams claiming second FIH Hockey Pro League victories over Germany in two pulsating matches on Sunday in Brussels.
It was the women's teams who were in action first, with Belgium's Red Panthers claiming their second win in two days over Die Danas. Stephanie Vanden Borre earned her second Player of the Match award of the weekend thanks to a superb penalty corner double that sent Belgium on their way to victory, finding the bottom left corner with two near identical strikes in the 10th and 21st minutes respectively.
The home favourites were guilty of wastefulness in front of goal and could easily have been out of sight had they taken their numerous chances, with Germany pulling themselves back into the contest thanks to a goal on debut from Stine Kurz, who found the back of the Belgian net with a penalty corner drag-flick five minutes before the end of the third quarter.
Germany went for broke in the final minutes of the match, replacing their goalkeeper with an outfield player in a bid to find an equaliser. However, it was Belgium who benefitted the always risky tactic, with France De Mot showing fine skills to evade numerous German tackles before flicking into an unguarded goal from a narrow angle to delight the home fans.
"It is not every year you get six points against Germany, so we are very happy", said Vanden Borre in the post-match interview for broadcast. "[Wednesday's defeat against the Netherlands] was a game that we learned a lot from, and today we proved that we can do it against a really good team so we are happy with our six points."
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Belgium's men came into Sunday's match on the back of a 6-1 victory over Germany, a score-line that perhaps did not reflect the true nature of an excellent contest. The second game was another thriller, with Germany striking early thanks to Niklas Wellen's superb close range penalty corner deflection before Belgium turned the match on its head with three goals in just four minutes either side of the quarter-time break. Sebastien Dockier scored two wonderful team goals, with Tanguy Cosyns also on target as the reigning Olympic, World and FIH Hockey Pro League champions showed exactly why they are currently the best men's team on the planet.
Lucas Windfeder's penalty corner drag-flick ahead of half-time kept Germany within touching distance, although Thibeau Stockbroekx put the Belgians into a 4-2 lead after fine work from the exceptional Victor Wegnez. Again Die Honamas hit back, with Malte Hellwig netting at the end of the third quarter to set up a thrilling final 15 minutes.
Eventually though, it was the home favourites who prevailed, with Nicolas de Kerpel completing a 5-3 score-line from close range after another wonderful exchange of passes from the Tokyo 2020 gold medallists.
"If you look at the game yesterday, it was 6-1 of course, but our goalie had an amazing game and it could have been 6-4 or 6-5", said Belgium midfielder Victor Wegnez, who created two goals in the second game to be named Player of the Match. "Today I think they were more efficient in front of goal. We struggled a little bit to enter the game, but then we started to put our game in place and deserved the win."
Outgoing Germany head coach Kais Al Saadi, taking charge of the team for the very last time, said: "It was much better than yesterday. We were much more competitive. The boys tried everything they could to get a good result against the Olympic champions. I'm very proud of the team and the two years, what we have accomplished together. It was always good fun, and I'm very disappointed to not see them in the future, but they have a bright one, so [I have] no worries about it."
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The FIH Hockey Pro League Season 3 action resumes on Wednesday 10 November with the Netherlands women taking on Belgium in Amsterdam for the second time, with the Dutch running out 2-0 winners in the first encounter on Wednesday 13 October. To see the complete FIH Hockey Pro League match schedule, please click here.
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FIH Hockey Pro League
Sunday 17 October 2021 – Brussels (BEL)
Women
Belgium 3, Germany 1 [Match 2 of 2]
Player of the Match: Stephanie Vanden Borre (BEL)
Umpires: Hannah Harrison (ENG), Alison Keogh (IRL) and Jonas van 't Hek (NED – Video)
Men
Belgium 5, Germany 3 [Match 2 of 2]
Player of the Match: Victor Wegnez (BEL)
Umpires: Jonas van 't Hek (NED), Dan Barstow (ENG) and Alison Keogh (IRL – Video)
