Sunday, August 12, 2012
MYT 5:25:02 AM
By Annika Breidthardt
LONDON (Reuters) - Germany won their second successive men's hockey gold on Saturday by beating the Netherlands 2-1, spoiling a Dutch bid for a double after their women triumphed the day before.
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Germany's Jan Philipp Rabente (C) with team mates celebrates scoring a goal against Netherlands during their men's gold medal hockey match at the Riverbank Arena at the London 2012 Olympic Games August 11, 2012. REUTERS/Dominic Ebenbichler |
Jan Philipp Rabente scored both goals for Germany, his first of the tournament and only the seventh and eighth in his international career.
The two teams largely cancelled each other out in a top-class match in which they gave it everything.
Rabente opened the scoring at the end of the first half when he rode two challenges inside the Dutch circle and while diving, flicked the ball past the outstretched keeper into the net.
Mink van der Weerden got the Dutch back into the match in the second half with a penalty corner drag flick for his eighth goal of the tournament.
But Rabente scored again with five minutes to go. His first attempt saved, he danced around the back of the goal, appealing for a corner, but re-emerged at the far post to tap in a pass back.
Germany's coach Markus Weise - already the only coach to have won gold with a men's and a women's team - has now coached teams to gold in three consecutive Olympic hockey tournaments.
He led Germany's women to gold in Athens in 2004 and coached the men when they won the title in Beijing four years ago.
"This was a grand fight by my team," he said. "We didn't let the Dutch play their game as much as other sides before us. I've never been happier."
(editing by Michael Holden)