The men's field hockey knockout round began in a theatrical fashion.
The first game at Yves-du-Manoir stadium saw Indian defensive prowess on full display as the reigning bronze medalists downed Great Britain, ranked second globally, in a shootout against all odds — namely, a 42-minute-long man disadvantage.
In the day's second game, Spain denied reigning gold medalist and top-ranked Belgium a chance to defend its title with two heroic goals late in the fourth frame. With the win, world No. 8 Spain, the lowest-ranked team in the quarterfinals, advanced to the semifinal for the first time since 2008.
The Netherlands, the heavy gold medal favorite and world No. 2, opened afternoon play with a win over Tokyo silver medalist Australia, and Germany finished the day with an unrelenting victory over Argentina.
The semifinal round takes place on Aug. 6. The Netherlands will face Spain, and India will take on Germany.
2024 Paris Olympics men's field hockey semifinal schedule
Tuesday, Aug. 6
Netherlands vs Spain: 8 a.m. ET
Germany vs India: 1 p.m. ET
India vs. Great Britain
A quiet, scoreless first quarter preceded a drama-filled second which saw India's Amit Rohidas receive a red card for an intentional high stick, giving Great Britain a man-advantage for the remainder of the match.
But that wouldn't slow the Indian team down.
Midway through the second quarter, on India's fifth penalty corner of the match, Harmanpreet Singh played the hero — just as he had so many times in pool play — launching a drag flick from the edge of the circle to take the lead. It was his seventh tally in six games in Paris. Great Britain's Lee Morton found the equalizer five minutes later, picking up a rebound and tucking it into the cage.
Sreejesh Parattu Raveendran stood on his head in the net for India through the remainder of regulation, brilliantly blocking shot after shot to hold Great Britain at bay, serving as the backbone of an Indian barricade that stopped a staggering 21 English shots. India's shot count was eight.
With the score still deadlocked by the time the clock hit zero, the teams turned to a shootout. With four successful penalty shots from Harmanpreet, Sukhjeet Singh, Lalit Upadhyay and Rajkumar Pal, and one last perfect save from Sreejesh, India secured its spot in the semifinal, winning the shootout 4-2.
Belgium vs. Spain
Almost three full quarters went by before either team cracked the scoring code. Then, the scoreboard erupted, reading 3-2 in favor of Spain by the end of the contest.
Spain nabbed the first goal of the game with five and a half minutes left in the third frame when Jose Basterra grabbed an airborne rebound and tapped it into the goal. Enraged by the deficit, Belgium’s Arthur de Sloover slammed the ball into the net thirty seconds later to even the score.
Spain regained its lead with six minutes left in the game. Marc Recasens knocked a pass out of the air and sent it toward Marc Reyne, who was patiently waiting on the left side of the net. Reyne’s shot came from a near-impossible angle, deflecting off the inside of the Belgian netminder’s pads and into the goal. Spain netted an insurance goal two minutes later when a penalty corner shot from Marc Miralles deflected off a Belgian defender's stick and into the goal.
Belgium cut the deficit back to one in the 58th minute and collected one final penalty corner in the waning seconds of the match, but it was too little, too late.
Netherlands vs. Australia
Another game, another scoreless beginning.
In a rematch of the Olympic final in Athens 20 years ago, the old foes struggled to bust through each other’s defenses until the 35th minute. Only this time, the Netherlands would emerge victorious, earning a clever 2-0 win.
The third time was the charm for the Dutch, who finally found the back of the net on their third penalty corner of the game. Duco Telgenkamp dove to collect the initial drag flick and gave it a gentle poke for the edge.
By then, the Oranje had found their footing. The Netherlands controlled possession through the remainder of the match, hardly letting Australia touch the ball at all.
Thijs Van Dam netted the insurance goal for the Netherlands with eight minutes left in the game, charging up the left side of the field, juking two Australian defenders, and sneakily tucking the ball behind him into the corner of the net.
Germany vs. Argentina
The last match of the day was evenly contested according to nearly every metric — possession time was just two percentage points apart through much of the match and each team ended with 13 circle penetrations. But it was Germany that finished in the lead, winning 3-2.
Germany kicked things off early. Just before the sixth minute, Teo Hinrichs stood in the middle of the circle and fired off a shot so powerful it slammed into the back of the cage and bounced right out.
Just two minutes later, however, Argentina leveled the score as Maico Casella brilliantly snuck a drag flick through a narrow hole in Germany’s penalty corner defense — a play Germany’s Gonzalo Peillat replicated almost exactly to regain the lead with six minutes left in the half.
Then came the fourth quarter.
Argentina opened the frame with another tying mark, this time off a free hit from Agustin Mazzilli. Germany retook its lead with six and a half minutes remaining, then almost immediately got back-to-back cards: one green and one yellow. Argentina received two final penalty strokes in the last 30 seconds of the contest, but it wasn’t enough. The reigning World Cup champions came out victorious.