August 23, Dublin: Only two games down for decision on Friday in the 5th – 8th place round of the EuroHockey Championships B Qualifiers at the Sport Ireland Campus. The first play-off saw Luxembourg face Türkiye, with both sides suffering heavy defeats to Wales and Czechia respectively the day prior. In the early evening, Italy, who were looking to make amends following their shootout loss to Poland, faced a Maltese side that had to lift their spirits after their opening defeat at the hands of Ireland.
While there is only one spot in the EuroHockey Championships up for grabs in this tournament the teams that finish 2nd through 5th would play in the second-tier competition; the EuroHockey Championships II, next summer and those from 6th to 8th will operate in the third tier. This meant that all four of the beaten quarter-finalists in the EuroHockey Championships Qualifier B still had something to play for.
Türkiye kept their second tier hopes alive with a 4 – 1 victory over Luxembourg. A goal from Furkan Atas, 2 goals from Omer Karakus and the fourth of the game from Batuhan Ozakalin meant Türkiye went into the closing stages four goals to the good. Luxembourg, although in vain, made history of their own in the dying stages as Alexis Desloovere found the back of the net with two minutes left on the clock to score Luxembourg’s first ever senior international goal. It ended 4-1 to Türkiye.
Italy took on Malta in the second of Friday’s games. Malta, having lost by a considerable margin to Ireland 24 hours before, likely went into this game with a sense of trepidation given Italy only lost to Poland on penalties in their quarter-final.
Davide Giuliani put Italy 1-0 up with a field goal after 7 minutes. Luca Valentino converted a penalty corner in the 13th minute. Geronimo Clement added another penalty corner a minute later. Luca Valentino converted a penalty stroke in the 26th minute. David Arosio made it 5-0 on 28 minutes with a field goal. Davide Giuliani made it 6-0 on the stroke of half-time.
The Italians added further goals in the second half. 3 penalty corners by Geronimo Clement, 2 field goals from Dario Saoncella and a field goal by Felix Dionisi Vici sealed a 12-0 win and a place in the 5th/6th place final on Sunday.
Tomorrow, Wales and Czechia will begin the day’s proceedings with the first of two semi-finals at 12:00. Ireland face Poland in semi-final 2 to determine who will face off in Sunday’s final and book their spot in the EuroHockey Championship Qualifier B.