November’s mad-cap 4-4 draw between Belgium and the Netherlands’ men’s teams was voted the best FIH Hockey Pro League match of 2020.
The encounter – in which Belgium took the bonus point by winning the shoot-out after the two teams shared eight goals in regular time – claimed a 29.14 percent share of the fan vote, finishing ahead of the Netherlands women’s 3-1 victory against Argentina in Buenos Aires (2nd place – 22.73%) and India men’s 2-1 triumph over reigning world and European champions Belgium at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar (3rd place – 13.19%).
The Belgium versus Netherlands clash was the clear winner in the ten-strong, mixed gender shortlist that attracted votes in their thousands from all over the world.
Speaking to the FIH website, Belgian midfielder John-John Dohmen – who is just two games away from joining a handful of players to have played 400 senior internationals – reflected on the memorable contest.
“It was a really nice game to play,” he said. “It was pretty cold that day, so it was not easy to be really focussed and really sharp for the game. But we did well, and Holland did well also. If you have a game like that, with four goals to each team, it is pretty impressive.
“I think it was a nice game to watch on TV, but it was a pity that the public was not present, but we know why. It was a nice game to play, I think.
“It really was an offensive game, I would say. I think Belgium and Holland, they played to win of course, but also to play some good hockey and to score some goals.
“We were not waiting to defend, and it was the same for our opponents. It was a nice game to play; really open, tactical as well, which is something that I like. We saw quite a lot of mistakes tactically, but also saw nice hockey skills and nice goals, so it was an interesting game for us.”