European Championship: Hockey men move into the semi-finals with a winning victory

With their best tournament performance, the German hockey men have reached the semi-finals of the European Championship as the first group. The team of national coach André Henning confidently prevailed in the last preliminary round game against Poland with 10: 0 and secured the lead in front of France with seven points.

In the semifinals, Germany will meet Spain on Thursday (8:00 p.m./Magenta TV). The two -time European champion secured the ticket for the preliminary round against Belgium.

The French previously came to a historical success with a 3-2 against England and moved into an EM semi-final for the first time in 55 years. There you will meet defending champion and Olympic champion Netherlands on Thursday (5 p.m.).

In the Mönchengladbacher Hockey Park, Mats Grambusch (2nd minute), Thies Prinz (9./12.), Raphael Hartkopf (15th/29th/42nd), Gonzalo Peillat (30./59.) On his 33rd birthday as well as Malte Hellwig (54.) and Justus Weigand (58.). The Polish team ends the tournament pointlessly as a group last. A German team had already won 10: 0 against Gibraltar in 1978.

National coach Henning had warned his team, the game against the world ranking 25. to take light shoulder. “If you only give 60, 70 percent against Poland, it will be a very difficult game,” said the coach.

His team understood that and was immediately involved. After 72 seconds, captain Grambusch scored 1-0. It was the first tournament goal for the Gladbacher native. He prepared the second for Prince, who increased to 3: 0 with a double pack.

Is there a classic against the Netherlands?

Hartkopf met 4-0 in the first quarter and contributed two more goals. The world champion presented the hits worth seeing, successful combination and a lot of joy of playing in front of their own audience and underlined his title ambitions. With a successful semi -finals, the classic and dream finals against the Netherlands could then occur on Saturday.