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VIENNA, Austria – The No. 10 U.S. Men’s National Indoor Team pulled off an upset over No. 3 ranked Belgium in their second match of the 2025 Rohrmax Cup. An explosive offensive effort saw the Wolves take an 8-4 victory.
USA started off with no intention of hanging back, putting a player up high in their attacking circle. A long ball up from Ajai Dhadwal (Agoura Hills, Calif.) in the first few minutes looked promising, but the USA offense was unable to get a stick on it. On a quick counterattack, Belgium earned the first penalty corner of the match. The result was a penalty stroke, which went wide to keep the score at zero.
After being on the defensive end for a few minutes, Belgium earned a second set piece at the 6:30 mark – this time converting to take a 1-0 lead. USA evened the score a minute later, with Aki Kaeppeler (New York, N.Y.) driving up the right side and finishing a low angle shot. USA soon increased their lead to 2-1 when Marius Leser (Mannheim, Germany) snuck the ball past the Belgium goalkeeper. A dangerous ball in the circle with 30 seconds remaining forced USA goalkeeper Amar Singh (Santa Clara, Calif.) to step up high and clear it. The Wolves took their 2-1 lead into the quarter break.
Four minutes into the second frame, USA found their first penalty corner of the match, which A. Kaeppeler converted to cushion the lead at 3-1. With 3 minutes left in the half, Belgium had a chance with a penalty corner of their own but sent the flick wide. Thirdty seconds later, a breakdown in what had been a strong USA defense allowed an open Belgium attacker in the circle, who sent in a goal to bring the score to a narrow 3-2.
The second half saw a breakthrough for the USA attack. A ball sent from circle-to-circle from A. Kaeppeler to Kei Kaeppeler (Stuttgart, Germany) was finished with a nice reverse flick, putting the red, white, and blue up, 4-2. At the 30-minute mark a pass in the circle found Lasse Nobereit (Koenigstein, Germany), whose shot bounced off the Belgium goalkeeper to make it 5-2. Patient passing around their attacking circle gave the Wolves an even greater advantage, as Nobereit received a pass at the stroke mark and turned to put away another goal with less than a minute left in the third.
USA entered the final frame with a 6-2 advantage. With just over 8 minutes remaining in the contest, a USA set piece increased their lead to 7-2 with a flick from A. Kaeppeler. Desperate for goals, Belgium pulled their goalkeeper with 5 minutes left, finding some payoff soon after with a penalty corner goal. The final minute was action packed, as a fruitless Belgium set piece chance was countered by USA with a goal from Quintin Schlatmann (Amsterdam, Netherlands) on an empty net. In the final seconds Belgium put one more goal in, as USA took a big 8-4 victory.
The Wolves are back in action tomorrow at 10:10 a.m. ET to take on Austria U-21.
The event will be live streamed on SV Arminen TV (YouTube).
For more information on the 2025 Rohrmax Cup, visit the event page.
