The Netherlands beat Germany in a shoot-out to win the men’s Olympic hockey gold Thursday, breaking a 24-year drought in what they hope will be the first of a Dutch double.
A tense game ended all square at 1-1 after fourth-quarter goals in quick succession from Dutch captain Thierry Brinkman and Germany’s Thies Prinz.
The match went to a shoot-out, with each player going one-on-one with the goalkeeper.
The first two efforts for each side were saved before Brinkman put the Dutch 1-0 up.
Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak then saved again from Prinz, giving the Netherlands a vital advantage over their fierce rivals.
Thijs van Dam and Germany’s Justus Weigand both netted, leaving Duco Telgenkamp with the chance to win the match.
The 22-year-old nonchalantly scooped the ball beyond Jean-Paul Danneberg in the German goal to make it 3-1 and give the Dutch their first gold medal in the men’s competition since 2000.
“Blaak did a great job the whole tournament, the whole team was amazing,” said Brinkman.
“It was quite intense because we knew Danneberg is a good shootout keeper, we analysed him very well.”
The Germans and the Dutch share a lengthy rivalry as two of the great powerhouses of world hockey.
Germany, the reigning world champions, came into the match with the confidence of knowing they had edged the pool game between the sides 1-0.
They also had history on their side having won all four of their previous Olympic finals, including against the Dutch in London in 2012.
The Dutch were desperate to bounce back from a poor campaign at the Tokyo Games, where they finished sixth.
‘Beautiful’ moment
The first half was played at a furious pace as both sides looked for a way through the tightly organised defences.
That made for just four shots at goal, three of them falling to Germany, who also had the only penalty corner, which Tom Grambusch was unable to convert.
It was the Germans, under the watchful eye of Chancellor Olaf Scholz in the stands, who dominated possession, with 62 percent over the first 30 minutes.
The Dutch, cheered on by another vast army of orange-clad supporters, began to assert themselves as the game moved into the third quarter.
They made their dominance count in the opening minute of the fourth quarter.
Koen Bijen flicked the ball across goal for Brinkman to stab home on the volley from close range.
Shortly afterwards, Gonzalo Peillat — an Olympic champion with Argentina in 2016 — hooked brilliantly off the German line as Bijen’s flick appeared to be heading in.
Immediately the Germans were up the other end, forcing a penalty corner which Prinz, on his second attempt, slammed past Blaak.
Germany’s Johannes Grosse came close to a winner two minutes from time and the Dutch then failed to capitalise on a penalty corner, sending the game into a dramatic shoot-out.
“I was always a team player,” said Dutch coach Jeroen Delmee, who won gold with the Netherlands in 1996 and 2000.
“It’s something I believe in. That’s what we have been building the last three years. When the hard work pays off that’s the most beautiful thing in life.
The Netherlands can do the double when they face China in the women’s final on Friday.
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