In the end, Germany became the world champion Title On a busy Sunday night in Bhubaneswar under the lights of Kalinga, Wellen led the front row, bravely defended half of his side being fouled, recovered the ball, scored once, and beat the keeper twice on penalties as Germany beat Belgium 5: 4 defeated tie breakers. It was an endgame for the story. (Read Also: Hockey India President to evaluate world cup performance)
Unlike the previous two main finals, which were handled with care, as is usual with endgames, this one was insane. Belgium took a 2-0 lead early on, but Germany managed a remarkable comeback and not only equalized in the fourth quarter, but also made it 3-2. Belgium then gave the Germans a taste of their own medicine by equalizing penalties with a minute remaining. Once again the teams were inseparable after their respective first five tries.
This time it was Belgium who led with two goals to make it 3-3. Just like he did at the end of regular time when the finale ended in sudden death. When 20-year-old Jean-Paul Dannenberg rejected the Tanguy Cosyns, a swing match that seemed to go on forever was finally decided.
The Germans ran onto the field and pounced on their young goalkeeper.He was only penalized for his eighth cap and the players gave each other big hugs. They screamed like crazy that they couldn’t believe they came to win the gold.
Ten years ago, Wellen scored a hat-trick in the World Junior Championship final when Germany scored on Indian soil. On Sunday night, seven players from the 2013 vintage under the same coach, Andre Henning, marked Germany’s return to the hockey elite. After years of underperforming, this is the giants’ first major European title since Olympic gold in London – they won Olympic bronze in2016, but Henning doesn’t care.
Henning is a trained lawyer by profession and is celebrated in Germany as the merger of Bayern Munich coach Julian Nagelsmann and Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp. Also one of the early head coaches liked him for his team’s plays. And in the last three weeks, the comparisons with Nagelsmann and Klopp have only intensified, although Henning wasn’t comfortable with it. Gone are the days when Germany was efficient but adventurous.
Henning’s Germany has become a difficult country. -Metal, counterattacking unit but has retained a key trait, recovering from rather late comebacks.
After leading 2-0, Belgium tried to defend their place. It was less about parking the bus and more about taking fewer risks while continuing to push their opponents into place. Germany captain Mats Gram Busch half-joked that it was “not nice” to see the intense pressure from Belgium, which they aggressively used to block all German attacking avenues for most of the first half but as the game progressed, Germany started playing the ball around.
The crosses, but more than the movement of the ball, it was their run off the ball that put the Belgian players out of position. Even if they ventured out of their zone for even a split second, it was enough for Germany to use that space and create chances. Once again, waves affected the game. He pulled the strings behind the scenes in Quarterfinals when Germany performed a miracle. In the semi-finals, he added the finishing touches to give Germany another unlikely win.
And on Sunday, Wellen’s goal, which opened the first goal for Germany, broke Belgium’s hockey resistance during World Cup final.
