FIH Pro League games Belgium – The Netherlands on July 1st and July 4th 2023

There were 2 weeks of games again in Antwerp this year end of June, beginning of July. And both the Belgian men and women teams played against the Dutch on Saturday July 1st and Tuesday July 4th. The Dutch women won both games as expected but the wins were very narrow ones, 2-0 and 2-1. On Saturday the Dutch women had the best of the game but they forgot to score which kept the game intense until the very end. The Dutch only scored their second goal in the last minute of the game. The technical quality was not as high as expected but the Dutch were already sure about the title they seemed to be playing in a low gear. The game of Tuesday was more intense and as the Belgians got in the lead they pushed the Dutch team to start playing at a higher level. It didn’t result in many goals and the Dutch team only managed to score on 2 penalty corners. It kept the game interesting until the end. The Belgian men got a thorough beating from the Dutch on Saturday and they lost their game with something like 6-1. They never had a chance of winning. The result was that Belgium had to win on Tuesday if they wanted to clinch the title. On Tuesday the Belgian team played a lot better and looking only at the field play and technical skills they outperformed the Dutch. Still they lost again but only 2-4 and it stayed undecided until late in the fourth quarter. The Dutch one because they are obviously top notch but also because they were very effective, almost every chance they got resulted in a goal. The Belgians needed too many chances to score, partly due to excellent Dutch defending, and missed a bit of luck with a few balls hitting the post instead of going in. Regardless, the Tuesday game was top class hockey and a true pleasure to watch.