FIH Hockey Pro League: Netherlands men sign off a great season with a 4-1 victory over Spain

The Netherlands affirmed their status as the champions by comfortably firing four goals past the Spanish line of defence. Pirmin Blaak made several remarkable saves to show why he is a one-person defensive wall that attackers struggle to break.

Within the regulation time, Van Dam Thijs in the 13th minute, Van Der Horst Jair in the 18th minute, Wortelboer Floris in the 22nd minute and Pieters Terrance in the 40th minute were the goalscorers for the Netherlands. In contrast, Lacalle Borja, in the 53rd minute, was the lone goal scorer for Spain.

The Spanish squad started strong, winning five penalty corners in the opening quarter. Still, they failed to convert any of them into a goal. Van Dam Thijs opened the scoring for the Netherland with two minutes left in the first quarter with a shot past the Spanish goalkeeper Adrian Rafi after receiving a pass from Steijn van Heijningen.

Jair van der Horst doubled the lead for the Dutch side three minutes into the second quarter with the assistance of Seve van Ass and Tjep Hoedemakers. Floris Wortelboer smashed the ball into the net with a powerful shot to further increase the lead for the home side after taking control of the ball in the Spanish circle. The first half ended with a 3-0 lead for the Netherlands.

Spain mounted consecutive attacks, but the Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak denied them every time with a series of intuitive and athletic saves. Terrance Pieters slotted the ball into the Spanish net to make it 4-0 after receiving a perfectly placed pass on his stick from Steijn van Heijningen. Lacalle Borja scored a consolation goal for Spain in the ending moments of the match when a rebound from a penalty corner landed on his feet, allowing him to fire the ball past the substitute goalkeeper Derck Meijer.

In a post-match interview, Player of the Match Pirmin Blaak said, “I am happy to finish with this performance. We changed a few things, which meant we did not start well. We tried to improve, but they created too many chances. It was a bad performance by us, but after the past two years, it was nice to perform in front of crowds again.

2021-2022 season of the FIH Pro Hockey League comes to an end

The third edition of the FIH Hockey Pro League ended on June 26 with a final match between Netherlands and Spain. The eight-month-long tournament concluded with the Netherlands being crowned champions in the men’s category and Argentina lifting the trophy in the women’s category.

Harmanpreet Singh of India was the top goalscorer in the men’s category with 18 goals. Conversely, Agustina Gorzelany of Argentina clinched the top spot on the goalscoring table in the women’s category with 12 goals.

The 2022-23 season of the FIH Pro Hockey League will kick off on October 28, 2022, with a match between India and New Zealand.