Down 0-2 till the 28th minute, Germany chalked out yet another incredible win as they stunned defending champion 5-4 in the sudden death ( 3-3 in regular period) to regain the Hockey World Cup for the third time after a gap of 16 years, here tonight.
This was Germany’s third victory in a row after trailing 0-2, against England (quarter final), Australia (semi- final) and today Belgium. In the Pool B league stage Germany and Belgium played 2-2 draw.
Earlier, for the third place and Bronze medal, the Netherlands beat Australia 3-1
In the shoot-out the teams were levelled 3-3 leading to sudden death in which the Germans prevailed. For Germany Niklas Wellen, Hannnes Muller and Theies Prinze scored in the shootout and Wellen and Prinze converted in the sudden death.
For Belgium Florent Aubel ,Tanguy Cosyns and Antoine Kina scored .In the sudden death Aubel scvored while Cosyns failed.
It was a dramatic mixed first half of the title clash, in which the opening quarter belonged to Belgium but the second was dominated by the Germans.
Germany opened the game with an incisive attack but were foiled by the Belgians who countered but were unable to get past Matz Grambusch .
The Germans kept the pressure and earned two penalty corners in the fifth minute however, their star drag flicker Ganzalo Peillat failed to make use of them.
Belgium launched furious tearaway and in the 9th minute and Florent van Aubel half volleyed the ball to the left of the onrushing goalkeeper into the cage (1-0).
A minute later Tom Boon set up Antoine Kina, who relayed the ball to unmarked Tanguy Cosyns, who deflects it past the goal keeper Alexander Stadler (2-0).
The Red Sticks earned their first penalty corner in the 15th minute but Stadler dives to his left to foil the drag flick.
Three minutes into the second quarter Germany’s Niklas Wellen was double checked in the circle to stop him from scoring .Umpire whistled for a penalty stroke but Tom Grambusch failed to converted as he hit the right corner of the post and Vanasch cleared it easily. Tom tried to get a goal off deflection, but was unable to execute it as his brother Mat deflected it out.
Germans maintained their pressure and forced two penalty corners and Niklas Wellen found the target to reduce the margin 1- 2 in the 28th minute.
In the third quarter, Germans overwhelmed their rivals and scored two goals in seven minutes to take the lead. In the 40th minutes they drew parity through Niklas Wellen who converted his second penalty corner (2-2) and then in 47th minute captain Mats Grambusch give his side the lead (3-2) .
Belgians were in no mood to give up and they fought hard and took the battle into the German circle forcing three back-to-back penalty corners and off the last Penalty corner Tom Boom scored to take the final into shootout.
Earlier, Riding on Captain Thierry Brinkman’s brace the Netherlands upstaged challenger Australia 3-1 to win the bronze.
The match for the third place produced a fast paced game as both the teams, having won the Gold thrice each, battled it out for a bronze.
The Aussies earned a penalty corner in the 12th minute and Jeremey Hayward playing 200th -match for his country converted the penalty corner (1-0) to score his 100th goal for Australia. This was also his ninth goal in this tournament.
The Australian forward line consisting of Jake Harvie, who was playing his 100th match, along with captain Aran Zalewski and Govers made few incisive moves but could not breach the stout Dutch defence.
Despite having more circle penetrations till that time the Kookaburras looked frustrated by their failure to increase the lead and that proved costly for them as the Dutch took over the control of the proceedings in the third quarter.
The penultimate quarter saw the Dutch attacking their rival citadel from the flanks and the middle. The Aussies were forced to concede the space to their rivals as they fell back to defend. Two minutes into this session the Dutch earned their third penalty corner and this time Jip Janseen beat the charging defenders to scoop the ball home (1-1).
Two minutes later unmarked Brinkman intercepted a loose ball inside the rival circle and slammed it into the cage giving Charter no chance to block it (2-1).
The Australian were rattled and they made their move but all these attempts were aborted by the alert Dutch defenders.
In the 39th minute the Australia citadel fell again and this time Thijs Van Dam setup Brinkman who does a reverse and buried the ball in the cave (3-1)
Three goals in a space of seven minutes left the Aussies bewildered and clueless as the Dutch kept the pressure on.
The last quarter saw Australians making some frantic but unsuccessful moves as the Dutch nipped all their moves outside their circle. With a few seconds remaining, Aussies earned a penalty corner but Hayward’s flick was cleared by the defenders.