Commentary

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71'

The Dutch celebrations look a bit half hearted, as the Spanish retreat to their dugout. It was not a thrilling final by any stretch of the imagination, and did not live up to the 3rd and 4th play-off between Germany and Belgium earlier.

70'

The full time claxon sounds and the Netherlands are the Eurohockey Nations Champions, 2007. The Spanish surround both umpires, who are protected by the officials from the technical bench

69'

Eduard Tubau gets a shot in just inches wide of the Dutch goal. The crowd exhale a collective gasp of 'woooo'

68'

Spain attack down the right but its cancelled out by the Dutch 18, Rob Reckers

65'

Plenty of play in the centre-field at the minute

!!GOAL!!

Eduard Tubau

64'

Eduard Tubau scores getting a deflection of Xavier Ribas who slipped the ball to him

63'

Penalty Corner to the Spanish. Geert-Jan Derikx makes a stick save on the line for a corner. Another Penalty Corner is awarded to Spain for a Dutch foot

62'

Eduard Tubau makes a 30 yard run with Taeke Taekema trying to close him down but couldn't and Tubau gets a reverse stick shot away, saved by the Dutch Keeper.

61'

Pol Amat takes a twirling pot-shot at the Dutch goal, but the ball is cleared by the Dutch keeper. The Dutch work it up the field very quickly and slow the game down again

60'

David Alegre got hit on the knuckles by Geert-Jan Derikx and it looked he was raising his fist to the Dutchman

58'

Green card for Rodrigo Garzo

!!GOAL!!

Taeke Taekema

57'

Just for a change, Taeke Taekema drag flicks it into the Spanish goal

56'

Floris Evers works the ball into the Spanish circle, tries a shot its rebounded, and Eby Kessing has a go. He falls over. The Netherlands get a Penalty Corner...

55'

The Spanish easily clear their line and in the process Floris Evers has a stick tackle on David Alegre penalised

53'

Ronals Brouwer attacks solo effort down the left but the ball goes out over the back line. The Spanish are still pressing but their possession has decreased a little

!!GOAL!!

Juan Lainz

52'

Xavier Ribas drag flicked to the top of the goal and stick saved by Geert-Jan Derikx for a corner. The ball is played in and Juan Lainz scores for Spain, between the keepers legs

51'

Penalty Corner to Spain, the ball rebounds of the keepers pads and hits Taeke Taekema on the leg

50'

A long ball down the left from Eric Bouwens sees Matthijis Brouwer dive towards the Spanish backline trying to keep the ball in play but theres too much momentum behind it

47'

Pol Amat makes a solo run to the Dutch circle and gets a reverse stick hit shot, on the ground, very hard, goal bound, but Guus Vogels clears it away. The Spanish are keeping the Dutch pinned in their half

45'

The Dutch now start to advance on the Spanish but it's cleared by David Alegre. Taeke Taekema puts an aerial ball down the pitch, but it's intercepted by Xavier Ribas. Roderick Weusthof decided to play a stick tackle on Ribas and gives away a free hit

44'

Ramon Alegre gets a reverse stick shot to the right hand side of the Dutch goal, which the keeper saves

42'

Spain start to press the Dutch more which results in the 2nd half possession of 68% to the Spanish

41'

Xavier Ribas drag flick which Guus Vogels saved at head height, goes out for a corner

40'

Penalty Corner to the Spanish. Umpire Blasch has to intervene between Robert Van der Horst and Eduard Tubau who square up to each other

37'

A ballet style intercept from Geert-Jan Derikx gets penalised for the Dutch. A full length of the pitch pass which arrived at Eduard Tubau's stick who took it on to the back line, crossed the ball and Robert Van der Horst had to make a diving interception to clear the danger

36'

Rob Reckers passes back for the Netherlands, who are 35 minutes away from tournament glory and being crowned champions of Europe

!!GOAL!!

Taeke Taekema

35'

What a surprise, its the Taeke Taekema show with a drag flick shot to the bottom left of the Spanish goal. His 15th goal of the tournment. The half time claxon sounds and both teams leave with the first half possession stats resting at 57% to the Dutch and 43% to Spain

34'

Eduard Tubau gets a verbal warning and the Dutch get the first Penalty Corner of the game for a foot on Eduard Tubau

32'

Nice interplay between Rob Reckers and Roderick Weusthof down the right to Timme Hoyng lurking in the Spanish circle but Ramon Alegre managed to intercept the final pass and clear to safety

31'

The Spanish pressurize the Dutch on their circle but cleared by Matthijis Brouwer

30'

Ramon Alegre stops the current Dutch attack playing it into a Dutch foot. Currently there have been no Penalty Corners!

29'

Green Card to Eduard Tubau for a stick tackle just inside the Spanish 23 metre area

28'

Rodrigo Garzo plays it down the pitch to Eduard Tubau who reverse stick passed it across the goal but there was no-one there

27'

Spain press the Netherlands in their 23 metre area, but the Dutch regain control. Possession wise its 60-40 in favour of the Netherlands

26'

Alex Fabregas comes back on bringing Spain up to full strength

25'

Green Card to Matthijis Brouwer. Spain with a Free Hit on the Dutch 23 metre line. Sergi Enrique plays a hard ball into the Dutch circle. It beat the first line of Dutch defenders but it was cancelled out by the second line and is launched into the Spanish 23 metre area

24'

A period of one backline to another ensues with no team gaining any major advantage

21'

Francisco Cortes makes a good save from Ronals Brouwer on a 1 on 1 with the Spanish keeper

19'

Albert Sala to Pol Amat down the left field and final pass to Eduard Tubau who travelled along the Dutch back-line inside their circle, but after a mele, Umpire Hutchinson corrects his decision and awards a Free Hit to the Dutch

17'

Enthusiastic challenge by Roderick Weusthof on Rodrigo Garzo just in front of the Spanish 23 metre line, but the Spaniard gets the ball upfield

16'

Teun De Nooijer goes down through a sliding tackle by Alex Fabregas and Umpire Hutchinson has no problem producing the Yellow Card

14'

Spain are slowly probing down both wings, looking for an 'in', wheras the Dutch are looking for any gaps and as soon as they find one, they attack through it. The Dutch crowd get vocal for the first time this afternoon

13'

Nice interplay between Teun De Nooijer and Ronals Brouwer who progress as far as the Spanish 23 metre line, but Spain manage to clear their line and play the ball straight up to the other end

12'

Sergi Enrique goes hard into Taeke Taekema, taking the Dutch defender off his feet

The crowd are basking in the Manchester sunshine as Spain attack down their left. They get a free hit outside the Dutch circle but it is hit straight to Jeroen Delmee who launches it forward

Plenty of possession hockey being played. Thomas Boerma had the ball, but he mis-passed it to Eduard Tubau who ran the ball into the Dutch circle. He shot and then Francisco Fabregas, on the rebound, tried a reverse stick shot, but it hit Thomas Boerma on the head. He fell and time was stopped.

!!GOAL!!

Matthijis Brouwer

The Dutch advance up into the Spanish half with some cautious play down the right wing. Teun De Nooijer takes a hit in from the right which reaches Matthijis Brouwer, he turns and shoots and places the ball in the far left corner of the Spanish goal

Free hit on the edge of the Dutch circle. Umpire Hutchinson awards another one for ball on a Dutch foot just outside the circle. Pol Amat gets a deflected shot away but it goes over the back-line

Both sides have played aerial balls down the sides which the opposition have intercepted. A cagey start from both sides, with the Spanish probably under orders not to give away any penalty corners

The Dutch move forward, with both sides playing balls of their respective backlines in the first minute

Eduard Tubau gets the final underway for Spain

Welcome to the mens Final of the Eurohockey Nations Championships 2007, between Netherlands and Spain. It's a beautiful day here in Manchester, the crowds and the excitement are building with only a few minutes to go before the teams are presented and the anthems played. The teams are presented to the England Hockey Royal Patron, HRH The Duchess of Wessex

Umpires are Colin Hutchinson (IRL) and Christian Blasch (GER)