The German hockey men ended the group stage at the Olympic Games with an impressive prestige win against arch-rivals Netherlands.

On Friday evening, the team headed by national coach Kais al Saadi, who had already qualified for the quarter-finals, won 3-1 (1-0) against the World Cup runners-up.

Niklas Wellen (10th) took the lead after good preparatory work by Martin Häner.

Constantin Staib (41st) and Timm Herzbruch (54th) followed suit.

Jeroen Hertzberger (57th) scored for the Netherlands.

The selection of the German Hockey Federation had already been freed from the great pressure before kick-off thanks to help from the rifle.

The 4: 4 between South Africa and Canada secured the team around captain Tobias Hauke ​​one of the first four places in group B.

ups and downs

“The team is of course aware that the quarter-finals have had ups and downs. Nevertheless, he is definitely deserved, ”DHB sports director Christoph Menke-Salz had told SID before the duel with Oranje. The final placement and the opponent in the round of the last eight will only be determined after the final Group B game between Belgium and Great Britain.

So far, the 2008 and 2012 Olympic champion's tournament has been like a roller coaster ride. The 7: 1 at the start against Canada was followed by a 1: 3 defeat against world champions Belgium, the 5: 1 against the two-time Olympic champion Great Britain a 3: 4 against South Africa. Now the German team has won the new edition of the final of the last European Championship. "In the end, it doesn't matter how we got into the quarter-finals," said Menke-Salz: "We'll put everything in there to take the next step towards the semi-finals."

The German hockey women had significantly less trouble in the preliminary round in Tokyo. The team of national coach Xavier Reckinger confirmed their strong condition on Friday in a 4-1 (3-0) against South Africa with the fourth win in the fourth game. The German team qualified for the round of 16 after just three games. The group final against world champions and tournament favorites Netherlands is on Saturday.