Euros 2023: England Men's Team Beat Spain 4-3 in Blockbuster Encounter and Advance to Semi-Finals

England Men's Hockey Team put in a solid show to advance to the semi-finals of the EuroHockey Championships 2023 with a tense 4-3 win in their last pool stage match against Spain on Wednesday.  

England came back twice from a goal down to beat Spain in what was a topsy-turvy encounter. It was Nick Bandurak (28'), James Gall (37'), Sam Ward (40') and Tom Sorsby (40'), who scored a goal each for England in what was a virtual quarter-final. Xavier Gispert (12'), Jose Basterra (35') and Marc Miralles (40') were the goalscorers for Spain. 

With a semi-final spot at stake, England came out all guns blazing and immediately earned a penalty corner inside the very first minute of the match. However, Ward's drag-flick was saved by the Spanish goalkeeper.  

England continued with their structured attack, making inroads inside the Spanish half, but couldn't cause much of a danger. Spain, on the other hand, took some time to settle in. They had a clear-cut chance of taking the lead in the 10th minute, but the Spanish forward missed out on deflecting the ball into the nets at the far post.  

Two minutes later, Spain earned their first penalty corner on a counterattack and were successful in converting through Gispert's fiery slapshot into the right bottom corner of goalkeeper Ollie Payne. They made yet another circle entry on the counterattack in the dying seconds of the first quarter, but Brendan Creed averted the danger.  

Spain rode on the momentum as they had a flurry of penalty corners at the start of the second quarter, but England's defensive unit did an excellent job to deny their opponents from extending the lead.  

England in reply, continued with their attacking intent. They kept piling pressure on the Spanish defence and were successful in equalising in the 28th minute. England drew a penalty stroke, which was duly converted by Bandurak, thus making it 1-1 at the end of the first half.  

After a tense first half, England started the third quarter on the front foot and made aggressive runs inside Spain's striking circle but couldn't find space.  

Meanwhile, Spain went on to take the lead on a counterattack as Basterra found the back of the net from an open play in the 35th minute. However, the lead was short-lived as England drew parity through Gall's diving deflection in front of the goal during a remarkable penalty corner variation in the 37th minute.  

In what turned out to be a goalfest, as many as three goals were scored in the 40th minute. England took the lead through Ward's sneaky field goal, Spain then equalised through Miralles' penalty stroke, but Sorby's deflection during the penalty corner routine put England 4-3 ahead at the end of the third quarter.  

With a slender lead, England started the final quarter brightly. They enjoyed the ball possession, and had a series of penalty corners, but couldn't avail themselves the opportunities 

Spain also had an opportunity to equalise, but English goalie Payne made a stunning save. They earned back-to-back penalty corners, but England's watertight defence nullified the attack. 

The closing stages of the match saw thrilling end-to-end action, both teams pushed each other with cautious attack. With little over a minute to go, Spain removed their goalkeeper to put an extra outfield player, while England stayed deep and survived the danger to secure their semi-final spot with a thrilling 4-3 win.   

Nick Park, who won his second Player of The Performance Award in the tournament, expressed “It's great to be out here, playing with the boys, and getting the results”.  

“We want to be in big games like these more and more, and find our way back to win. I felt like we showed that today. It was an incredible game. We really showed resilience today, and it's always good going forward into the semi-finals. I think we need to start strong against our opponents, we will have to show resilience, get on the ball and start fast,” he added.