BRONZE: India vs. Germany
India hadn't medalled in 41 years while Germany was looking for a second-straight bronze-medal finish at the Olympics after finishing on the podium in Rio back in 2016. India, who finished last in that Rio tournament, has certainly shown all sorts of improvement from that 2016 Olympiad, so could they keep the momentum going in this tournament? We'll find out at the conclusion of sixty minutes of play!Things got off to a fast pace, and it would Germany who capitalized early as the ball was played into the Indian circle where it was stopped by Surender Kumar, but his indecision allowed Timur Oruz to poke the ball off his stick and under Indian goalkeeper Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran to give Germany the 1-0 lead just two minutes into this game! The frenetic pace would continue through the first quarter, but both goalkeepers stood tall while the defences played stout to send this game off at the break with that 1-0 German lead intact.
India would use a turnover early in the quarter to even things up when a long pass from Nilakanta Sharma landed on the stick of Simranjeet Singh at the top of the circle. It appeared that Germany had him well-covered, but Singh turned and let a strike fly that was on the mark, beating Alexander Stadler in the German net to even the game at 1-1 in the 17th minute!
That goal seemed to wake the Germans up as they began to pressure more, and they'd be rewarded in the 24th minute when Christopher Rühr found Niklas Wellen in the circle, and Wellen hammered home the goal to make it 2-1 for Germany. And they'd continue the assault on the Indian goal as Oruz would force a turnover on the goal line before centering to Benedikt Furk on the back post to make it 3-1 Germany one minute later!
Just as the goal against sparked Germany, India turned the tables on Germany with a quick strike of their own as Furk was whistled for a penalty corner in the 27th minute. Stadler made the initial save, but Hardik Singh came off the goal line as the injector to flick the loose ball past Stadler to cut the lead to 3-2 in favour of Germany. And the Indians, like the Germans, doubled-down on their goal-scoring prowess as Harmanpreet Singh fired a ball between Stadler and a defedner off a penalty corner in the 29th minute that tied the game at 3-3! With the game even at halftime, it would be a 30-minute game to decide the bronze medallists!
The second half started like the first half ended as India was scoring again! A push in the circle sent Rupinder Pal Singh to the penalty spot, and his flick to the left side of the goal found the netting as India took a 4-3 lead! Three minutes later, India turned the ball upfield quickly with a rush down the right side. Gurjant Singh would carry it into the circle and center for Simranjeet Singh who redirected the ball into the yawning cage to make it 5-3 for India in the 34th minute! India would continue to carry the pace, forcing Germany to play quicker than perhaps they like, and it often led to no attacks as Germany couldn't generate offence. The horn would sound, and we'd move to the fourth quarter with India leading 5-3 and fifteen minutes from a bronze medal!
Germany was the more aggressive team to start the quarter, and it would benefit them as they earned a penalty corner. Lukas Windfeder would convert on the opportunity in the 48th minute, and Germany had life with the score sitting at 5-4! Germany continued to push for an equalizer and they almost got caught a couple of times as India found chances, but Stadler was equal to those chances. Stadler was brought off by the Germans for the extra attacker with 4:30 to play - an eternity in field hockey time - as they needed that fifth goal at least.
There was all sorts of drama in the final minute. After a yellow card was given to India, the clock wasn't restarted as Germany played with an extra ten seconds of time. Once the clock finally started, the Germans earned a penalty corner with 6.8 seconds to play and needing a goal. Windfeder's strike, however, would be stopped and the ball bounced towards the sideline as the time ticked off, and India would claim the bronze medal with the 5-4 victory over Germany!
GOLD: Australia vs. Belgium
The FIH top-ranked team in Australia met the former top-ranked team and current second-ranked team Belgium as the gold-medal match was literally the best two teams on the planet meeting for Olympic supremacy. Australia came into this game 7-0-0 in this tournament while Belgium entered the match with a 6-0-1 record, their only blemish being a 2-2 tie in a meaningless final preliminary round game with Great Britain. With this game likely determining the FIH's top world ranking spot, who would emerge as the best of the best?Knowing how explosive each of these teams can be in the offence departments, both Australia and Belgium played fairly uptempo despite the defences holding firm. Lots of balls sent towards the circles were intercepted or poked away while the teams moved the ball with precise passing around the circle and through the neutral zone. Neither side would find the net in the opening quarter, so we'd head to the second quarter still deadlocked in a 0-0 tie.
Andrew Charter was far busier in the second quarter in the Australian net as Belgium had a couple of great penalty corner chances, but the Kookaburra goalkeeper wouldn't surrender a goal. With Belgium carrying more of the play, the Australians looked like they were still searching for ways to break through the Belgian defence which was aggressive on every attempt the Aussies made. Like the first quarter, though, no goals would be seen, so we'd enter halftime still searching for the first lead in a 0-0 game.
Australia opened the second half playing very tenatively, and Belgium would press them to force a turnover. Off the reset, a long ball into the circle was redirected by Nicolas de Kerpel, but the redirect couldn't be wrangled by Charter and Florent van Aubel would flick the loose ball past the Australian goalkeeper to give Belgium the 1-0 lead in the 32nd minute! That goal opened things up a little as the Australians were forced to play with more urgency, and they began to find chances. The Belgians were content to respond as well, but you could see they wanted to keep that tight defensive zone coverage in place. At the horn, Belgium carried the 1-0 lead into the fourth quarter as they sat fifteen minutes from the gold medal!
The urgency was real in Australia's opening of the fourth quarter, and they would be rewarded in the 47th minute! After Australia got the ball into the circle, Aran Zalewski's shot was deflected high into the air, but Tom Wickham would tap it out of the air and into the back of the net as Belgian goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch had zero chance as Australia draws even 1-1! Both teams would settle back into their first-half forms as neither team was interested in surrendering a goal through the final 13 minutes, so the final horn would sound on a 1-1 draw which means the gold medal would be decided in the penalty shootout!
Australia's Blake Govers shot first, and he would be denied by Vanasch in the Belgian net. Florent van Aubel would step up for Belgium looking for the lead in the shootout, and he would convert on a spinning shot after Charter drifted too far to the left! Belgium leads 1-0 in the shootout!
Flynn Ogilvie looked to square things with the second Australia shot, and he would showed patience in outwaiting Vanasch in moving to the right where he found an angle to score to make it 1-1! Arthur de Sloover was the next Belgian shooter, and he'd get Charter moving the wrong way with a little juke upon where he hammered the ball into the open net to restore the lead for Belgium at 2-1!
Tim Brand would be the third shooter for the Kookaburras, and he deked left to right in forcing Vanasch out of position before burying the ball in the back of the net to tie the shootout at 2-2! Felix Denayer was called upon for Belgium, and his run into the circle saw the ball roll off his stick as Charter pushes it aside, so the shootout remained 2-2!
Joshua Simmonds was the fourth Australian shooter, and his approach saw him slow up which allowed Vanasch enough time to knock the ball away from Simmonds which caused the eight-second time limit to expire as the score held at 2-2! Victor Wegnez made his approach for the Belgians, but Charter made contact with Wegnez to force a penalty stroke! Alexander Hendrickx was chosen to take the penalty stroke, and his shot from the dot went high on the left side that Charter could not stop to put the Belgians up 3-2!
Jacob Whetton had to score with his shot to keep Australia alive, and, despite having the ball knocked away, he still got a shot away that beat Vanasch on the right side, but could not beat the post as Belgium wins the shootout by a 3-2 score meaning that Belgium is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic gold medallist in men's field hockey!
The following table shows how the remainder of the field finished.
| Rank | Country | 2016 Finish |
|---|---|---|
 | Belgium | 2nd |
 | Australia | 6th |
 | India | 8th |
| 4th | Germany | 3rd |
| 5th | Great Britain | 9th |
| 6th | Netherlands | 4th |
| 7th | Argentina | 1st |
| 8th | Spain | 5th |
| 9th | New Zealand | 7th |
| 10th | South Africa | DNQ |
| 11th | Japan | DNQ |
| 12th | Canada | 11th |
Congratulations go out to all the teams, but especially to gold medalist Belgium, silver medalist Australia, and bronze medalist India! An excellent tournament by all standards!
Until next time, keep your sticks on the pitch!
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