France beat Spain, Russia and Wales tie
With two Pool C matches on this Friday, there was also plenty of action in the Men’s tournament today.
Pool C
Spain – France 2-3
France produced a brilliant comeback to beat Spain 3-2 to finish off their entertaining campaign, one which saw 35 goals come from their five games. For Spain, they remained in fifth place, however, and landed the final remaining World Cup spot courtesy of their earlier wins over Wales and Russia. The Red Sticks had started excellently with Xavi Lleonart’s shot hitting a body on the line, giving a stroke which he converted himself. Pau Quemada doubled up with a quite brilliant first time finish from David Alegre’s assist. But the French comeback was on when Timothée Clément finished off an assist from Pieter van Straaten. Van Straaten equalised with 11 minutes to go following François Goyet’s mazy run and the winner came in quite brilliant fashion. It started on the French baseline but was worked well around the back to left back Viktor Lockwood who played an outstanding ball from left to right to van Straaten and then on to Benjamin Marqué. The ball fell to Antonin Igau on the back post to pot the goal.
Spain – France 2-3 (2-1)
7’ 1-0 Xavi Lleonart (PS)
18’ 2-0 Pau Quemada (FG)
25’ 2-1 Timothée Clément (FG)
49’ 2-2 Pieter van Straaten (FG)
55’ 2-3 Antonin Igau (FG)
Umpires:C van Bunge (NED), M Pontus (BEL)
Wales – Russia 3-3
Wales finish in seventh place overall with Russia ending in eighth with both destined for the 2022 European qualifier events following their lively 3-3 draw. Going into the tie, Wales needed a 12-goal win for a World Cup spot and a six-goal success to move ahead of France. But that never looked likely to materialise, especially when they fell behind to Andrey Kuraev’s sixth minute opening goal. Joe Naughalty equalised from the penalty spot and Wales went in front in the 24th minutes from an excellent team goal, set up by Rupert Shipperley and scored by Hywel Jones. Naughalty netted his third goal of the tournament from a corner only for Russia to bounce back again via Marat Khairullin’s spin move. Semen Matkovskiy’s drag-flick got the Russians back on terms with six minutes to go.
Wales – Russia 3-3 (2-1)
6’ 0-1 Andrey Kuraev (FG)
17’ 1-1 Joseph Naughalty (PS)
24’ 2-1 Hywel Jones (FG)
40’ 3-1 Joseph Naughalty (PC)
43’ 3-2 Marat Khairullin (FG)
54’ 3-3 Semen Matkovskiy (PC)
Umpires: X Fenaert (FRA), D Rodriguez (ESP)