Men's Field Hockey EHF European Championship 2023 Road to Paris 2024

[Rafa Maciel 1,261]

 played really well in their match against  and on balance, probably deserved to win - Germany simply weren't able to take the chances that they generated and ultimately paid the price for failing to convert 1 of the 4 penalty corners in the 2nd quarter.

 

Although  will go into the final as favourites, England will believe that if they can play like they did this evening, then they could pull of a surprise win - their last match against  in July ended in a 1 all draw but the 2 previous matches in 2022 were won by  by 3 goal margins.

[LDOG 2,199]

Germany despite being world champions usually are an inconsistent team (their results in pro league as proof). 

 

England/GB are probably the most improved team since Tokyo. Still, Netherlands is likely taking the ticket to Paris.

 

Men's hockey is a toss up right now. The medals next year could go to any of the top 5/6 teams in any order.

[mpjmcevoy 202]

22 hours ago, LDOG said:

Germany despite being world champions usually are an inconsistent team (their results in pro league as proof). 

 

England/GB are probably the most improved team since Tokyo. Still, Netherlands is likely taking the ticket to Paris.

 

Men's hockey is a toss up right now. The medals next year could go to any of the top 5/6 teams in any order.

England/GB have this bizarre thing were they can't seem to have a good men's team and women's team at the same time. Men clearly on the up = women clearly on the down...

[Rafa Maciel 1,261]

29 minutes ago, mpjmcevoy said:

Men clearly on the up = women clearly on the down...

Would say the men are just about holding steady rather than being on the up - but on the women's side, a lot of the players from the last Olympic cycle have retired to take up presenting jobs with the BBC so they are in rebuilding phase 

[LDOG 2,199]

1 hour ago, Rafa Maciel said:

Would say the men are just about holding steady rather than being on the up - but on the women's side, a lot of the players from the last Olympic cycle have retired to take up presenting jobs with the BBC so they are in rebuilding phase 

No, the men have improved. In the past they would usually lose quite easily to the elite teams, now the match is not lost before the start at the very least.

In the recent pro league season they defeated (without the need of a shoot-out) all the top teams at least once. At the last world cup they only lost on a SO to Germany but showed solid performances throughout.  

At the COG they narrowly lost to Australia after leading 2-0. 

The trend is that England just doesn't lose without giving a fight to anyone anymore and I believe they can fight for a medal in Paris even if it's not a gold.

Edited August 27, 2023 by LDOG

[Nickyc707 305]

On 8/26/2023 at 1:21 AM, LDOG said:

Germany despite being world champions usually are an inconsistent team (their results in pro league as proof). 

 

England/GB are probably the most improved team since Tokyo. Still, Netherlands is likely taking the ticket to Paris.

 

Men's hockey is a toss up right now. The medals next year could go to any of the top 5/6 teams in any order.

I agree the men's tournament is going to be much harder to call than the women's next year judging by the FIH Pro League last winter with a real mixture of results and no really dominant teams. Should make for a fascinating OG event.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_Men's_FIH_Pro_League

 

Interestingly the finalists here finshed top of the league during the winter so it appears to have benefited them coming into this tournament.

Edited August 27, 2023 by Nickyc707

[Nickyc707 305]

On 8/26/2023 at 12:19 AM, Rafa Maciel said:

 played really well in their match against  and on balance, probably deserved to win - Germany simply weren't able to take the chances that they generated and ultimately paid the price for failing to convert 1 of the 4 penalty corners in the 2nd quarter.

 

Although  will go into the final as favourites, England will believe that if they can play like they did this evening, then they could pull of a surprise win - their last match against  in July ended in a 1 all draw but the 2 previous matches in 2022 were won by  by 3 goal margins.

In the 2022/23 Pro League last December GB (as opposed to England) beat the Netherlands 3-0 and drew the return match 1-1.

 

I agree that the Netherlands are the favourites but most of the England team have recent experience of beating this Dutch team.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_Men's_FIH_Pro_League

Edited August 27, 2023 by Nickyc707

[LDOG 2,199]

5-8 Places 

 4-3

 4-3

 

Bronze 

 2-0

 

Final

 2-1

 

 

 Qualified to olympic games. 

 

 

[CCB 455]

 

Nice final, but the video referee was a complete disaster.

 

And Leo Hinrichs from player of the tournament. Although he is a very good player, I was a bit surprised.