Earlier after the painful semifinal defeat, the young Netherlands side overpowered Australia in a 3-1 win to seal a World Cup bronze medal
Sports Desk
BHUBANESWAR: Germany had done it before and they did it again. Germany defeated defending champions Belgium 5-4 in the penalty shootout to win the Hockey World Cup 2023 in Bhubaneswar on Sunday. Germany kept their cool and showed resilience and mental strength to beat Belgium. Both the teams scored three goals each at the end of regulation time. This is Germany’s third world title as they came back from behind after conceding two early goals in the first quarter. Florent Aubel broke the deadlock in the 10th minute and Tanguy Cosyns then doubled Belgium’s lead within seconds. Niklas Wellen reduced the two-goal deficit before the halftime hooter. Gonzalo Peillat then successfully converted a penalty corner in the third quarter to bring Germany back on level terms. The final quarter saw Germany lead for the first time in the contest as skipper Mats Grambusch beat the Belgian goalkeeper from the left side. Tom Boon, however, delayed Germany’s party and converted a penalty corner with less than two minutes remaining in the regulation time.
Fairplay award goes to Belgium. Most Goals Scored by a team go to the Netherlands. The best team goal celebration goes to Korea. The Fans’ choice award goes to Christopher Ruhr of Germany. The best Junior Player award goes to Mustaphaa Casseim of South Africa. The Hero Top Scorer of the tournament award goes to Jeremy Hayward of Australia for scoring 9 goals in this tournament. JSW’s best Goalkeeper of the tournament goes to Vincent Vanasch of Belgium. The best defender of the tournament award goes to Australia’s Jeremy Hayward. The best midfielder of the tournament award goes to Victor Wegnez of Belgium. The award for the best Forward of the tournament as well as the best player of the tournament goes to Niklas Wellen. The German forward was also the Player of the Match in the semi-final and the final
Earlier after the painful semifinal defeat, the young Netherlands side overpowered Australia in a 3-1 win to seal a World Cup bronze medal. Having gone a goal down here in the opening half at the Kalinga Stadium on Sunday, the young side recovered to show they wanted it more. “We are a young team and we want something. You really need to show in these kind of games,” Jorrit Croon, the Dutch attacking midfielder said after the game.
The Netherlands dominated possession from the start, not allowing Australia time on the ball but went behind in the first quarter. But for the second game in a row, Australia went on to lose, despite taking the lead. Skipper Thierry Briknman helped complete the second half revival with two goals in the space of five minutes.
The Kookaburras scored through Jeremy Hayward, the tournament’s prolific drag-flicker, when he found the target in his first try by firing the ball into the bottom right corner. The Netherlands, however, restricted them to only three penalty corners in the game.
When the teams came out for the second half, the Dutch improved with their passing and pinned the Aussies into their own half with their high line. They had a flurry of penalty corners and Jip Janssen, Netherlands’ potent flicker, managed to find a way through when his powerful flick was deflected by the the first runner Tim Brand and into the top corner, giving Andrew Charter no chance.
Two minutes later, the Aussies failed to clear their lines inside the circle allowing Brinkman and Floris Wortelboer to dispossess them, and the loose ball was slotted in by the former. Brinkman found himself on the scoresheet again after a superb run on the left by Thijs van Dam. Van Dam’s pass was touched on the first time by Tjep Joedemakers and Brinkman swivelled to flick the ball home.
The Netherlands were down to 10-men for the final eight minutes after van Dam’s yellow card gave Australia some hope. But it failed to test Pirmin Blaak, while the Dutch had a goal chalked out for impeding Charter at the other end.
When the final hooter went off, the Netherlands celebrated another podium finish, while Australia will go home empty-handed in a World Cup for the first time since 1998.
