Poland and Spain made the big moves on day one of the men’s EuroHockey Indoor Championship in Heidelberg as they both won twice in their respective pools.
Türkiye, meanwhile, produced one of the moments of the day when they struck in the last five seconds to draw with world number one side Austria. It was their first ever point in this level of competition.
Ireland were the other debutant and had their moments against Belgium and Germany but ultimately came away with two defeats.
Early statements
2024 finalists Poland put in a composed performance to start the tournament, a 5-1 win over newcomers Türkiye with two goals each from Gracjan Jarzýnski and Eryk Bembenek.
A last minute Josef Toms goal saw Czechia produce an amazing comeback from 3-0 down to defeat Portugal 4-3 in the other game in Pool A.
Two David Franco efforts in the first 13 minutes and another from Laurens Halfmann has Portugal flying high and looking confident. They hit the crossbar as well seconds before Lukas Plochý got the Czechs on the scoreboard with 17 minutes left.
He got another within seconds and Jakub Homolka levelled in Q4 before Toms won the day.
In Pool B, Ireland got off to a dream start but ultimately could not see things through as Philippe Simar inspired Belgium to a 5-3 win.
Goals from Greg Williams and Ross Canning gave the Irish – in their top division debut – a 2-0 advantage at half-time. But Simar’s hat trick, bringing his international goal tally to 80 in 30 games, turned the tide in the second half.
Poland and Spain double-up
Later in the day, the Poles ensured they topped Pool A overnight as they held off Portugal 5-3. It was built around four first half goals with Bembenek netting two of them to build a 4-0 lead.
Rodrigo Castro’s buzzer-beater saw Portugal get some hope on half-time and while he and Laurens Halfmann scored in the second half, they never got within range of Poland.
Türkiye then produced a chaotic draw against world number one side Austria, Celal Aydin scoring with less then five seconds to go to snatch their first point in the top division.
The Turks had led 2-0 through Sait Kalkan and Ali Akin Özkilic only for three Austrian goals in the space of 75 seconds in Q4 swapped the lead. The Turks equalised but Nikolas Wellan’s second of the evening looked to have won the points until Aydin’s late piledriver.
Back in Pool B and Spain got their second win of the day from a crazy final quarter rollercoaster, beating Belgium 6-5. The Spaniards were never behind, leading 1-0 at half-time through Pablo Roman and 2-0 with 12 minutes left.
Philippe Simar quickly changed things, equalising for 2-2 in Q4; they traded more goals for 3-3, 4-4 and 5-5 before Ignacio Abajo won it in dying moments.
In the final game of the day, Germany overcame a stubborn Irish side, eventually shaking off the newcomers 7-3 with Luca Grossmann scoring a hat trick.
They built an early two-goal lead but Ireland kept fighting back, reducing the margin to 3-2 at half-time and 4-3 with six minutes to go before Grossmann and Anton Pöhling made the game safe.
Thursday results
| Time | Teams | Title | Scoreline |
|---|---|---|---|
| 09:30 | POL – TUR | Pool A | 5 – 1 |
| 10:55 | CZE – POR | Pool A | 4 – 3 |
| 12:20 | BEL – IRL | Pool B | 5 – 3 |
| 13:45 | SUI – ESP | Pool B | 1 – 7 |
| 16:00 | POL – POR | Pool A | 5 – 3 |
| 17:25 | AUT – TUR | Pool A | 4 – 4 |
| 18:50 | BEL – ESP | Pool B | 5 – 6 |
| 20:15 | GER – IRL | Pool B | 7 – 3 |
