Germany became the first men's team to win back-to-back FIH Hockey World Cup titles on two separate occasions by successfully defending their crown with a 1-0 victory over Spain in the final in Wavre on Sunday.
The Germans looked slightly more dominant in a hard-fought opening quarter. But the Red Sticks upped the intensity in the second and created several promising opportunities. Their best chance fell to Borja Lacalle, whose angled reverse-stick strike was kept out by an excellent glove save from Germany goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg midway through the period. Danneberg was brought into action a few more times in the second quarter but ensured the sides were still level on 0-0 at halftime.
Spain piled on the pressure at the start of the third quarter but couldn’t make it count. And with 80 seconds remaining in the period, Germany made the most of their only circle entry of the quarter, Michel Struthoff running across the goalmouth and popping the ball into an empty net after the keeper had committed early.
While Spain continued to rack up the circle entries and chances on goal, they simply couldn’t beat the German defence. They pulled off their keeper with just under four minutes to go in a last-ditch attempt to find the equaliser, but Germany held firm to secure their fourth World Cup crown.
Germany’s Christopher Rühr was named Player of the Match and said afterwards his side were planning to celebrate all of next week. “[This means] much more than anything else. I think everyone said, ‘Ah, the Germans this year, nah, they won't be there.’ Everyone took it on the other teams, but we showed what we're capable of and played an amazing German competition,” he said.
ARGENTINA CLAIM BRONZE
Earlier in the day in the bronze medal playoff, Argentina’s men stunned the Netherlands 2-1 to reach the podium for only the second time in their history.
The Netherlands started on the front foot and controlled much of the early play, but Argentina’s defence did a good job of keeping the Dutch at bay. There were few clear chances at either end, leaving the score level on 0-0 at halftime.
Despite the early Dutch dominance, Argentina began to build more momentum and struck first in the 41st minute. A powerful strike from the 23m line found an unmarked Tomas Domene in front of goal, whose deft one-handed deflection put Argentina 1-0 up.