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Victory and atmosphere are encouraging: hockey men want titles
The hockey men celebrate the victory against the Netherlands. photo
© Federico Gambarini/dpa
The German hockey men are enthusiastically celebrated at the European Championships and have big goals. They should be able to reach the semi-finals against France on Wednesday.
Carried by the fantastic atmosphere and equipped with great self-confidence, the German hockey men are aiming for the next title.
After the 3-0 win against the defending champion and ProLeague winner Netherlands, almost 10,000 visitors rose to the Mönchengladbach Hockey Park and sang: “Oh, how beautiful it is”. Even the national coach spoke of “goosebumps”. “It’s also great for the boys. They’ve never experienced a home tournament, they don’t get much money and get up at seven o’clock every morning and go running,” said André Henning.
“We want to be European champions”
Scorer Niklas Wellen, who scored his first goal of the tournament, was also blown away by the support of the enthusiastic crowd. “These are the special moments in your career. The fans carry you through the tournament,” said the Krefeld player, who would like to see more moments like this at the European Championships.
First of all, they have to reach the semi-finals with a win against France on Wednesday (7.30 p.m.). “We have to be wide awake, but if we defend like we did against the Netherlands then I’m not worried that we’ll go through to the semi-finals as group winners.”
Wellen doesn’t worry about the possible opponent in the next round. “It doesn’t matter at all. We’ll take what comes. We want to be European champions, so we have to beat everyone,” said the 28-year-old.