NewzVille Sports Desk
In Chennai’s Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium on Friday, the four quarter-finals of the FIH Hockey Men’s Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025 produced breathtaking finishes, with all matches going down to the wire.
Spain vs New Zealand
In a thrilling finish, the first quarter-final turned out to be a heavyweight boxing bout that went to the last round, with both Spain and New Zealand refusing to loose by any means.
In a rare finish, the crowd in Chennai saw the equaliser as well as the winning goal in the final minute of play. But while the Spaniards broke into celebrations after Bruno Avila converted a penalty corner to signal his team’s 4-3win, the Blacks Sticks had their heads in hands having equalized a few seconds before through Sam Lints’s second goal.
Germany vs France
After the score of 2-2 at full-time the defending champion Germany won the shootout 3-1 to become the second team to enter the semis, with Jonas von Gersum, Justus Warweg and Lukas Kossel converting for the reigning champions.ForFrance, only Aristide Michaelis was able to beat German goalkeeper Jasper Ditzer, who foiled three French attempts to earn the Player-of-the-Match award.
Netherlands vs Argentina
Two-times former winners Argentina and their captain Tomas Ruiz saved their best for the last against the Netherlands, after the two sides kept exchanging blows but failed to break the deadlock until the game saw its decisive goalin the final quarter. The moment gave the Argentines a 1-0 win for a spot in the last four and ended the Dutch hopes of a maiden title.
India vs Belgium
A vociferous crowd at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium was entertained to a dramatic finish in the most-awaited match of the day, which culminated with an edge-of-the-seat shootout after 60 minutes of pulsating hockey finished at 2-2.
The quarter-finals ended with the result that the home crowed wanted – India won the shootout 4-3, thanks to star performances by goalkeeper Prince Deep Singh and Sharda Nand Tiwari.
The Sunday Semi-final line up:
Argentina vs Spain
India vs Germany
