Hockey World Cup 2023: Holders Belgium wary of German resilience in final

Olympic champions Belgium will try to defeat a resilient Germany in the FIH Men's Hockey World Cup 2023 final on Sunday in Bhubaneswar to become just the fourth country to defend its championship successfully.

In the past, Pakistan, Australia, and Germany have all won consecutive championships. At the same Kalinga Stadium, Belgium, who rose to the top of the globe only a little over ten years ago, would try to repeat that accomplishment and defend the crown they earned in 2018.

Also read: Hockey World Cup 2023, Semi-finals Round-up: Germany knocks out Australia 4-3; Belgium eclipses Netherlands

With 11 players over 30 and three over 35, Belgium's "golden generation" of hockey players, who took home gold at the 2018 World Cup and the Tokyo Olympics, have proven that fitness comes before age.

Most of the winning team from the previous competition and the Tokyo Games has travelled to Belgium. Finding a significant flaw in a Belgium team that boasts some of the best attacking, defensive, and penalty corner players in the world are challenging.

Vincent Vanasch, one of the top goalkeepers in the world, is another asset to their team. In the same number of games, Belgium has conceded just five goals while scoring 18, with star scorer Tom Boon accounting for seven of those goals. 

However, the "German culture of resilience" has been on full show in this World Cup as the Die Honamas twice overcame deficits of 0-2 to go to the final, so the world No. 2 side should exercise caution.

Germany, a two-time champion (2002 and 2006), trailed England by two goals in the quarterfinals until scoring twice in the final 2.5 minutes to force a penalty shootout, which they won.

The world number four Germans, one of the title hopefuls, were down 0-2 to Australia at the half of their semifinal match on Friday. However, they never gave up and fought back to tie the game before spectacular scoring with only six seconds remaining.

"We have a lot of respect for the German side who came out of jail twice in this tournament and won. That is something which is there in their culture," Belgium head coach Michel van del Heuvel said. 

"Germany are a very tough side. We hope to save our best for the last. We will analyse their game and chalk out our plan," added Belgium captain Felix Denayer. 

The depth in the Belgium team can also be gauged from the absence of penalty corner expert and star defender Alexander Hendrickx due to injury early in the tournament was not felt. 

The only chink in their armour could be that Belgium have depended mostly on Boon to score the goals. Florent Van Aubel, Cedric Charlier and Sebastien Dockier have scored just two goals each. Arthur Van Doren and Arthur de Sloover will be the main men in the Belgium defence, while captain Denayer and Victor Wegnez will try to control the midfield. 

On the other hand, Germany will be looking to clinch their first title after 2006 and join the club of the other three countries to have won the World Cup thrice or more. 

Apart from the advantage of having recorded two come-from-behind wins, the Germans have been able to succeed in different playing situations. 

Germany adopted a man-to-man marking game against England, while they played a zonal system against Australia in the semifinals. They did not allow the normally fluid Australians to play their attacking style of play, with more ball possession. 

The form of penalty corner expert Gonzalo Peillat, who won the 2016 Olympics gold with Argentina but now represents Germany, will be key for the Die Honamas as his hat-trick was instrumental in the 4-3 win over Australia. 

"We need to continue to trust ourselves in our ability and in our mental toughness. Our ball possession game against Australia was unbelievable and we would want to continue that. We want to win the World Cup," German captain Mats Grambusch said.

The two sides were together in the same group, and there was nothing to separate them in their 2-2 draw Pool B match. 

Tom Grambusch, the younger brother of captain Mats, and Niklas Wellen scored in that match, and the duo will be Germany's key players once again on Sunday. 

Tom will be the defensive bulwark while Wellen, the man of the match against Australia, has been the standout player for Germany in this event with his mesmerising forays in opposition circle yielding six goals in as many games. 

Historically also, there is not much to differentiate between the two teams with Belgium having won 15 out of the 35 matches they have played against each other. 

Germany has won 13 times while seven matches were drawn. Germany has beaten Belgium just once -- in FIH Pro League match in November last year -- since July 2017. Losing semifinalists Australia and Netherlands will face each other in the bronze medal match earlier in the day.

(With inputs from PTI)