Olympic champions Belgium will look to beat a resilient Germany and turn out to be solely the fourth nation to defend the boys’s FIH Hockey World Cup title when the 2 sides conflict within the last right here on Sunday.
Pakistan, Australia and Germany have gained back-to-back titles previously and Belgium, who rose to the world’s elite round a decade in the past, could be seeking to obtain this feat and defend their title, which they gained in 2018, on the identical Kalinga Stadium.
With 11 gamers over the age of 30 and three over the age of 35, Belgium’s “golden technology” of hockey gamers, who gained the gold medal on the 2018 World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics, proved they’re completely match and that have counts greater than age. Belgium got here up with the majority of the groups that gained the final version of the occasion and the Tokyo Video games.
It is onerous to search out any main weaknesses on this Belgium aspect, which has a few of the finest attacking and defensive gamers on the earth, in addition to penalty nook specialists.
Additionally they have among the finest goalkeepers on the earth in Vincent Vanasch.
Belgium scored 18 targets, with star striker Tom Boon contributing seven and conceding simply 5 in as many video games.
However workforce no. World No. 2 could be cautious of the “German tradition of resilience” that has been in full swing this World Cup as Die Honamas twice got here again from Zero-2 down to achieve the ultimate.
Two-time champions Germany (2002 and 2006) trailed by two targets towards England within the quarter-finals however struck twice within the last two-and-a-half minutes to take the sport to a penalty shoot-out the place they emerged victorious .
Within the semi-finals on Friday, world quantity 4 Germany as soon as once more trailed title contenders Australia Zero-2 at half-time, however their never-say-die perspective was to the fore as they fought again to equalize the scores earlier than. discovering the winner in dramatic style with simply six seconds left on the clock.
“We’ve quite a lot of respect for the German workforce who broke out of jail twice on this match and gained. It is one thing that exists of their tradition,” Belgium head coach Michel van del Heuvel stated.
“Germany is a really powerful aspect. We hope to save lots of our greatest for final. We’ll analyze their sport and decide our plan,” added Belgium captain Felix Denayer.
The depth of Belgium’s squad may also be gauged from the truth that the absence of nook specialist and star defender Alexander Hendrickx as a result of harm at first of the match was not felt.
The one chink of their armor could be that Belgium depended largely on Boon to attain the targets. Florent Van Aubel, Cedric Charlier and Sebastien Dockier scored simply two targets every.
Arthur Van Doren and Arthur de Sloover would be the essential males in Belgium’s defence, whereas captain Denayer and Victor Wegnez will attempt to management the midfield.
Germany, alternatively, will probably be seeking to win their first title since 2006 and be part of the membership of three different nations who’ve gained the World Cup thrice or extra. Along with the benefit of getting recorded two come-from-behind victories, the Germans have been ready to achieve varied sport conditions.
Germany adopted the man-to-man marking sport towards England, whereas taking part in a zonal system towards Australia within the semi-finals.
They didn’t permit the usually fluid Australians to play their attacking model of play with extra possession.
The type of penalty nook specialist Gonzalo Peillat, who gained gold on the 2016 Olympics with Argentina however now represents Germany, will probably be key for Die Honamas as his hat-trick was instrumental in a Four-Three win within the face of Australia.
“We’ve to proceed to imagine in our capacity and our psychological power. Our possession sport towards Australia was unbelievable and we would prefer to proceed that. We need to win the World Cup,” stated German captain Mats Grambusch.
The 2 groups had been in the identical group collectively and there was nothing to separate them of their 2-2 attract Group B.
Tom Grambusch, the youthful brother of the Mats captain, and Niklas Wellen scored in that sport and the duo will once more be key gamers for Germany on Sunday.
Tom would be the defensive bulwark, whereas Wellen, man of the match towards Australia, was the standout participant for Germany within the occasion together with his mesmerizing forays into the opposition circle, netting six targets in as many video games.
Additionally, traditionally, there is not a lot to distinguish between the 2 groups, with Belgium profitable 15 of the 35 matches they’ve performed towards one another. Germany gained 13 instances and 7 matches had been drawn.
Germany have solely overwhelmed Belgium as soon as – within the FIH Professional League match final November – since July 2017.
Dropping semi-finalists Australia and the Netherlands will meet within the bronze medal match earlier within the day.