Match 7: Hungary v Cyprus 1-1
Second last day of the Men’s EuroHockey Championship IV tournament in Helsinki gathered crowds to Helsinki Velodrome to watch Hungary take on Cyprus and Norway face the host country Finland.
Hungary and Cyprus kicked off their battle right before noon. Cyprus quickly took the lead when Stylianou Constantinos was awarded a penalty store at 6’ minutes, which he successfully turned into a goal. For the remainder of the first quarter, the ball travelled constantly from one end of the field to another. The second quarter started out as even as the end of the first had been. At 23’ minutes it was Hungary’s turn to score, when Ficzere Zsombor sunk the ball into Cyprus’ net from a penalty stroke.
3 minutes later at 26’ minutes Hungary’s Farkas Imre was given a green card giving Cyprus the upper hand for 2 minutes. During the third quarter Hungary was given two more green cards, one to Ficzere Zsombor at 37’ minutes and one to Ujvari Viktor at 39’ minutes. Despite their efforts, Cyprus was unable to turn their opportunities playing against one less Hungarian to goals. The fourth and final quarter remained even with no goals scored and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
Match 8: Norway v Finland 1-1
The second match of the day saw Norway take on the host country Finland. The match started out even but turned dramatic already during the first quarter. At 9’ minutes, Norway’s Kiyani Mohammad Khidash was given a green card. The second green card of the match followed shortly after and was given to Finland’s Danhieux Willem at 15’ minutes. When the second quarter started, things took even more of a dramatic turn with both teams pushing their hardest in efforts to score. At 25’ minutes, Norway’s Kyani Mohammad Khidash was given a 5-minute yellow card. Two minutes later at 27’ minutes, Finland’s Laiho Ari was given a 5-minute yellow card as well. Right before the end of the second quarter another yellow card, a 10-minute one, was issued to Norway’s Singh Abhisekh.
Singh’s 10-minute suspension meant that Norway played most of the third quarter one man down. Finland kept putting on pressure and at 38’ minutes Laiho Ari succeeded in getting the ball past the Norwegian goalkeeper and giving Finland 1-0 lead. Finland’s lead lasted until well into the fourth quarter at 51’ minutes Norway’s Zia Usama scored from a penalty corner. Neither team managed to produce a winning goal and the match ended in a 1-1 draw.
At the end of the second match, the alumni of the Finnish men’s national team and the Finnish Hockey Association awarded Rathore Divyabhanu Singh of Norway and Luhta Jussi of Finland as best players of their respective teams and named Finland’s Laiho Ari as the man of the match.
Pool Ranking:
| Rank | Team | Played | Wins | Draws | Losses | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Finland | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 3 | 4 | 7 |
| 2 | Hungary | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 7 |
| 3 | Norway | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 5 |
| 4 | Cyprus | 3 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 5 | -2 | 2 |
| 5 | Slovenia | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 8 | -4 | 0 |
Final day tomorrow, upcoming games 11th August:
All games are being live-streamed on www.eurohockeytv.org