The medal round at the men's field hockey competition was set for Thursday at the 2016 Rio Games, with Germany facing the Netherlands for a bronze medal and Argentina and Belgium battling it out for the gold.
Below, we'll break down the day's scores and recap all of the action.
Gold Medal: Argentina Beats Belgium, 4-2
After shocking two-time defending gold-medalist Germany, Argentina took the gold medal for themselves, defeating Belgium, 4-2.
Pedro Ibarra, Ignacio Ortiz, Gonzalo Peillat and Agustin Mazzilli all scored for Argentina, who took a 3-1 lead into halftime. Belgium pulled one back in the third period but couldn't get the equalizer, as Mazzilli's fourth-period goal iced the win for the Argentines.
Tanguy Cosyns and Gauthier Boccard scored for the Belgians, who took a 1-0 lead in the first period but were unable to hold on to the advantage.
It was Argentina's first gold medal in men's field hockey, according to BBC Sport. , while Belgium's silver medal was their best finish in 96 years. Argentina had never previously reached the semifinals at the Olympics, per
Bronze Medal: Germany Beats the Netherlands 1-1 (4-3 shootout)
It took a penalty shootout, but Germany won the bronze medal by defeating the Netherlands on Thursday.
The two teams managed just a goal apiece during regulation time, leading to the penalty shootout. Martin Haner was Germany's goal scorer in regulation, while Jorrit Croon scored the lone goal for the Dutch.
The Netherlands' Bill Bakker led off the shootout with a miss, before the two sides made seven straight shots between them. Germany's Tobias Hauke, Mats Grambusch, Timm Herzbruch and Linus Butt all scored in the shootout, while Robbert Kemperman, Jeroen Hertzberger and Severiano van Ass scored for the Dutch.
But Sander de Wijn missed the fifth attempt for the Netherlands, giving Germany the win.
It was the second Olympics in a row the Germans defeated the Dutch in a medal round, as the Germans won a gold medal over the Netherlands at the 2012 London Games. Coming into Rio de Janeiro, the Germans had won the past two gold medals.
Germany and the Netherlands were the two favorites to win gold in this event, but the Germans were shocked by Argentina in the semifinals, losing 5-2, while Belgium knocked off the Dutch, 3-1.
Those results shocked everyone.
“This is crazy,” Argentine midfielder Lucas Rey said after his side defeated Germany, per the Associated Press (via the New Strait Times). “We knew we could do this, but it’s still crazy.”
Argentina kept the madness going on Thursday evening, beating Belgium to earn the gold medal.
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