Club de Campo First to Semi-finals
16 Feb 2008
The Spanish team Club de Campo Villa de Madrid was the first to classify for the EuroHockey Indoor Club Championship Cup semi-finals today after winning 2-7 to Austria’s Wiener AC.
Club de Camp Manager, Xavi Arnau said: “The most important thing today was to win, no matter the final score. We are going to play either the German team [Crefelder HTC] or the KS Pocztowiec Poznan [Poland] and both are very good teams. Our team is ready to play any of them and we hope to get into the final.”
The first half had the most scores whereas only the Spaniards netted the ball in half two, with the Austrians missing several opportunities. The first ten minutes of the match were balanced. Club De Campo’s Oliver Markkowsky scored in the second minute and soon after, in minute six, Austria’s Stricker Dominic answered for Wiener AC with a goal.
Just a minute after, Spain’s Oliver Markkowsky scored yet again. The most spectacular score came in minute 11 when, after a failed attempt by the Austrians, Club de Campo pushed all the way back and Frederic Soyez score. In minute 15, Konig Benedikit scored for the Austrians to bring it to 2-3 but from then on they couldn’t get passed the Spanish team. Hector Gonzalez and Soyez scored again for the Spaniards before the end of the first half.
In minute three of the second half, the Austrians failed to score a penalty corner by hitting the frame. In minute 5 they missed another opportunity and the Spaniards followed suit having several failed opportunities soon after. Spanish Goalkeeper Bernardino Herrera was very busy during the second half and gave a great performance. He stopped a penalty corner in minute 9 and another one in minute 17, plus several field goal attempts by the Austrians. Bosco P-Pla and Alberto Esteban were next to get on the board for the Spaniards, leaving a final 2-7 scoreline to get the Spanish side in the semi-finals.
When asked about the performance of the umpire, Arnau said: “In Spain we know the umpire and use the same language as them, here it is different. It is true that there have been a couple of controversial decisions but I think it’s because they understand hockey in a different way. They do their best and sometimes make mistakes.”