Hosts Austria won their second game at the EuroHockey U16 Championship for boys on Friday. In front of a packed stadium in Vienna Coach Robert Beles boys beat a motivated Croatia by 3:0 and will now meet Italy for the spot in the gold-medal-game on Saturday.
Austrias Captain Emil Sperl converted two penalty corners (12., 26.) and Fabian Unterkircher finished off a nice attack (21.) to give Austria a 3:0-lead before halftime. Croatia came back highly motivated after the break but didn’t manage to score from one of their chances – the game stayed at 3:0 for Austria, giving the hosts a deserved win in their second group-game.
In the second game of Pool A Italy beat Ukraine by 3:2 in a true thriller, thereby securing a spot in the medal-games on Sunday and sending their opponents out of them.
In Group B everything is still possible before the final day of the group stage. Poland is in the top-spot with six points after an exciting 9:4-victory against Russia. The Russians came back from 1:4 with three goals in two minutes just after halftime, but Poland netted one just seconds after the equalizer and subsequently took Russia apart, scoring four more from open play to make it 9:4.
In the days opener Belarus beat the Czech Republic by 6:4. With ten minutes to go Belarus already lead by 6:2. The Czech Republics final goals in the 67th and 70th did nothing more than change the score in the dying minutes of the game.
The final day of the group stage will bring exciting and decisive games. In Pool B Russia will fight against the Czech Republic for a spot in the medal-games, while Belarus will do just the same against Poland, who already secured a spot in at least the bronze-medal-game.
In Pool A Austria will meet Italy in a true final before the final. The winner will be in the gold-medal-game on Sunday, the loser will “only” fight for bronze.
Source: Austrian Hockey
Photograph: Austrian Hockey (c)
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