Irish sides in sight of goal

HOCKEY/European Under-21 Championships: After yesterday's rest day, the men's and women's Ireland under-21 sides face into their most important matches of the week in the European Championships today. In Belgium, the men play Poland in a game that could secure their place in next year's World Cup in the Netherlands, while the women meet Belarus at Belfield, also in the hope of earning a berth in next summer's World Cup in, Santiago, Chile.

Despite difficult matches in the final round of their pool games, both against Dutch teams, Ireland will expect to advance. The men can take great heart from their display against the Netherlands despite losing 4-1 as they took the game to the Dutch for long periods.

Poland go into the match having conceded twice as many goals as Ireland (20) in three outings, not a great defensive record even against tough sides such as Spain and Germany, both in Poland's group. On the positive side they scored seven goals as opposed to Ireland's six from three pool matches.

In the semi-finals the Netherlands meet Spain and England face Germany.

The Irish women showed spirit in the second half of their final pool game against the Netherlands on Wednesday, where only one goal went past Alison Lappin in the second half. They will look to those 35 minutes rather than the first half where six goals were scored. Ireland will have to revert to the type of game that earned them a draw against Spain and try to hold possession.

Against the Dutch that was not possible but perhaps Ireland have learned they perform better when they harass sides in all areas of the pitch and invite pressure when they sit back and play a defensive game.

Belarus have a slightly better scoring record, five from three matches compared to Ireland's three from three games but defensively, Ireland have had a better week, conceding 12 goals to the 14 that went past Belarus.

The Netherlands play England in one semi-final with Scotland facing the Germans in the other.