Spanish eyes were smiling on Friday at Euro Hockey League's KO16 Bloemendaal event as both Club de Campo and Atl├®tic Terrassa set up a dream meeting in the EHL Quarter Finals with superb Round 2 performances.
Edi Tubau sparkled in Bloemendaal's glorious sunshine as Club de Campo hit 11 past Ireland's Pembroke Wanderers, while Sergi Enrique scored a penalty shoot-out winner at Atl├®tic Terrassa overcame Germany's Mannheimer. There were also victories for England's Beeston and HGC of the Netherlands, who will also come face-to-face in the Quarter Finals. Detailed reports of the matches can be found below, with video highlights of each match available on www.ehlhockey.tv.
Away from the field, Euro Hockey League announced that PwC had become an official partner of the competition. PwC will work with the Euro Hockey League focusing on hospitality and human resources in a partnership that both companies are looking forward to.
Euro Hockey League Chairman Jons Hensel said: ÔÇ£We are delighted that PwC have become partner of the Euro Hockey League. We look forward to a long and fruitful working relationship with them.ÔÇØ
Saturday's matches are all potential classics, with an all-English meeting between East Grinstead and Reading before Oranje Zwart of The Netherlands doing battle with RC Polo of Spain. Arguably the biggest game of the day sees Teun de Nooijer's HC Bloemendaal doing battle with EHL champions UHC Hamburg in what could be a truly epic match. Belgium champions KHC Dragons take on Rot-Weiss K├Âln, the champions of Germany in the last match of the day.
Match 1: Beeston battle past defiant Dinamo
Beeston (ENG) 2-0 Dinamo Kazan (RUS)
English League champions Beeston HC have become the first team to reach the Quarter Finals of this season's Euro Hockey League thanks to a 2-0 victory over HC Dinamo Kazan of Russia.
The match was a closely fought contest, with Dinamo Kazan holding out until the 45th minute when Ben Arnold fired an a penalty corner rebound before Sam Ward slotted home a penalty corner variation 11 minutes from the end of the match to confirm Beeston's passage through to KO8. Beeston will now play HGC of the Netherlands, who defeated Ireland's Glenanne later in the day.
The ABN AMRO Man of the Match was Beeston's England and Great Britain international midfielder Adam Dixon, who was in sensational form for his team in the early morning match.
ÔÇ£I'm pleased just to get through, to be honestÔÇØ, said Beeston player coach Martin Jones shortly after the match. ÔÇ£We thought we were good enough to do it so it's great to reach the quarter finals.ÔÇØ
When asked about which team he would prefer his team to meet in the next round, Jones said: ÔÇ£I don't really mind either (HGC or Glenanne), but I think it would be great to play HGC in front of a big crowd.ÔÇØ
Match 2: Pembroke blown away by Tubau's Campo
Club de Campo (ESP) 11-0 Pembroke Wanderers (IRL)
Edi Tubau was in majestic form for Madrid's Club de Campo as his team swept aside the challenge of Pembroke Wanderers with ease to record a staggering 11-0 victory.
The result was the biggest ever winning margin in the knock-out phase of the Euro Hockey League, with no less than seven different scorers finding the back of the net as the Irish champions were overwhelmed by their Spanish opponents.
Remarkably, all of the goals came from open play, with Koke Rodriguez, Juan Fernandez, Victor Sojo (2), Juan Lainz, Edi Tubau (2), Cesar Sauquillo (2) and Eric-Jan Iding (2) all contributing goals in a wonderful display of attacking hockey from Club de Campo.
The result is a clear sign the Campo are certainly a force to be reckoned with in this season's Euro Hockey League. Beeston will now face either HGC of the Netherlands or Ireland's Glenanne in the Euro Hockey League Quarter Finals. Club de Campo will now play Spanish rivals Atl├®tic Terrassa, who won their match later in the day against Mannheimer of Germany.
The ABN AMRO Man of the Match was Club de Campo and Spain midfielder Edi Tubau, who was in magical form both as goal-scorer and creator as his team.
Match 3: Valiant Glenanne defeated by Vila's HGC
HGC (NED) 2-0 Glenanne (IRL)
Glenanne became the second Irish team to be eliminated from the EHL of the day with Dutch team HGC recording a 2-0 victory. The result set up a Quarter Final meeting on Sunday against England's Beeston HC.
Connor Grimes and Rodrigo Vila scored the crucial goals to give HGC a victory that many expected, but the score-line certainly did not tell the whole story of a match that was closely contested.
Grimes scored the game's opening goal in the eighth minute when he slid in to force home an accurate cross from the left. The goal did not stop the many Glenanne fans in the stadium from cheering constantly throughout the match, loving every minute of their Euro Hockey League experience.
The green shirts gave everything to get back into the game, while Glenanne goalkeeper Stephen Doran pulled off a string of what former Great Britain goalkeeper and Eurosport co-commentator Simon Mason described as ÔÇ£world class savesÔÇØ to keep his team in the match.
Sadly, Glenanne were hit by a late sucker-punch by Rodrigo Vila, who robbed the outstanding Joe Brennan down the left and powered towards the circle. The Argentina striker moved past both the last defender and the keeper before slotting into an empty net.
That goal killed off any remaining chance of Glenanne getting back into the match, although their loyal supporters will be hugely proud of the performance of their team today. However, it is HGC who book their place in the EHL Quarter Finals, setting up a great meeting with England's Beeston , who defeated Dinamo Kazan of Russia earlier in the day.
HGC captain Rob Short - who alongside team-mate Kenny Pereira is the joint Canadian international appearances record holder with 318 caps - was named as the Man of the Match, presented by ABN AMRO.
Match 4: Enrique the hero as Atl├®tic eliminate Mannheimer
Mannheimer (GER) 1-1 Atl├®tic Terrassa (ESP) - 3-4 After Penalty Shootout.
Sergi Enrique proved to be the hero of Atl├®tic Terrassa when he scored a dramatic penalty shoot out victory over the much-fancied Mannheimer HC of Germany. The win sets up an all-Spanish Quarter Final between Atl├®tic and Club de Campo of Madrid.
The penalty shuttles - which are soon to be trialled at FIH World Level events - were called into play when both normal and extra time finished with the scores level at 1-1. However, a tense and unpredictable penalty shoot-out went to sudden death before Spanish international Enrique coolly slotted home following a missed effort from unfortunate Mannheimer captain Niklas Meinart to make the final score 3-4.
The match was full of drama long before the penalty shootout, coming to life as early as the third minute when Thomas Prochazska slammed a low penalty corner on target that Atl├®tic keeper Christian Penalba failed to deal with. The Spaniards came within inches of finding an equaliser in the second period, and eventually grabbed a deserved equaliser two minutes after half time. That goal came from the stick of Miki Delas, who guided an expert deflection into the roof of the net which gave Mannheimer keeper Tobias Walter absolutely no chance of saving.
Chances came and went for both teams before the normal time expired, with Atl├®tic in particular frustrated on at least two occasions by Mannheimer defender Michael Purps.
The best chance of the extra time period fell to Mannheimer with less than two minutes of the matches remaining thanks to the awarding of a penalty corner. It seemed inevitable that Prochazska would step up to the mark and flick home the winning goal, but a miss-trap at the top of the circle denied him the opportunity to become the hero before the drama of the penalty shoot-out.
With the scores tied at 3-3 thanks to misses from Atletic Terrassa's Andreu Enrich and Dany Nguyen of Mannheimer, the penalty shuttles went to sudden death. A decisive miss from Niklas Meinert was punished by a composed finish by Sergi Enrique that sparked scenes of jubilation amongst the Terrassa players and fans.
The result sets up an all Spanish quarter final, with Atl├®tic now facing fierce rivals Club de Campo of Madrid, who earlier scored a staggering eleven goals against Ireland's Pembroke Wanderers. It promises to be an absolute classic match that will ensure there will be a Spanish representative at June's EHL Final Four event.
The ABN AMRO Man of the Match was named as Atl├®tic Terrassa forward Roc Oliva, who had been a constant threat for the Spaniards throughout the match.
SOURCE: Euro Hockey League Media Release
