Ireland 1 Germany 3
Germany opened their account after just two minutes when Florian Sperling beat Ross Clarke in the Irish goal. Ireland recovered well with some good spells of possession and Troy Chambers equalised just before the end of the first quarter to make it 1-1.
In the 35th minute, Ireland were awarded a penalty corner, however it was not stopped and Germany were able to break quickly and won a corner of their own. Luca Kirstein’s finish made it 2-1 to Germany. The lead was extended late in the third quarter when Peer Hinrichs scored.
Despite a spirited performance from Ireland in the final quarter they were unable to close the gap and the score at full-time was 3-1 to Germany.
In the other games, a Quentin Moens goal was enough for Belgium to beat England to go top of the table. This meant that Spain needed to win in their match with the Netherlands in the final game of the day to overhaul the Belgians and it turned out to be a highly competitive affair.
The Spanish took a 1-0 lead into half-time thanks to a 28th minute penalty corner scored by Grau Albert. They extended that lead early in the second half when Eric Gonzalez slotted the ball home. The Netherlands began to up the pressure and scored twice before the end of the third quarter through Pim Haring and Guus Jansen.
Early in the fourth quarter, The Dutch were awarded a penalty stroke after a trip in the circle and Hidde Parlevliet took full advantage. With just ten minutes remaining Spain equalised through Jan Clapes and Oriol Bozal put Spain 4-3 up just a minute later. The Netherlands were unable to find a goal in the remaining minutes and Spain secured the gold medal.
Results:
Belgium 1 (Moens) – England 0
Ireland 1 (Chambers) – Germany 3 (Sperling; Kirstein; Hinrichs)
Spain 4 (Albert; Gonzalez; Clapes; Bozal) – Netherlands 3 (Haring; Jansen; Parlevliet)
Final Standings: Spain 13pts; Belgium 12pts; Germany 9pts; Netherlands 7pts; Ireland 4pts; England 0pts