Hockey World Cup reaches its final stage, final match between Belgium and Germany

Hockey World Cup: In the Hockey World Cup 2023, a match was played between Belgium and Netherlands on Friday. In this match, Belgium defeated the Netherlands 3–2 in the penalty shootout to qualify for the final of the World Cup. They will face Germany in the final on Sunday. Talking about the match, both the teams were tied 2-2 after full time in the semi-final at the Kalinga Stadium. The match was decided by a penalty shootout, where Belgium won the match. An aging Belgium was given a tough fight by a young Netherlands team but the experienced defending champions prevailed in a shootout. Belgium has 11 players over the age of 30 while the Netherlands have eight players under 25 and only two players over 30.

Such were the semi-final matches

Germany beat Australia 3–2 in the first semi-final. Friday's last-four encounter was a repeat of 2018, where Belgium beat the Netherlands in a penalty shootout (3-2) at the same venue after both teams could not score in regular time. Star strikers Tom Boon (27th minute) and Nikolaas de Karpel (45th minute) scored for Belgium in regular time, while penalty corner stunner Jip Jansen scored in the 12th and 36th minutes for the Netherlands. Victor Vagnez, Arthur De Sluever and Florent Van Aubel scored for Belgium in the shootout, while Tangoy Kasyins missed the target. Jonas de Geus and Jorrit Kroon were successful for the Netherlands while Theis van Dam, Terence Peeters and Siew Van Es missed out. Belgium is the winner of the 2019 European Championship, 2020-21 FIH Pro League while having won gold at the Tokyo Olympics, silver at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro and gold at the 2018 World Cup.

In the first semi-final, a second-half hat-trick from star drag-flicker Gonzalo Pilat saw Germany come back from a two-goal deficit to beat Australia 4-3 to reach their fifth final. Pilat scored from penalty corners in the 43rd, 52nd and 59th minutes, while player of the match Nicklas Wellen (60th) surprised the Australian camp with a goal seconds before the end of the match. Australia's team was ahead 2-0 till the half. Jeremy Hayward (12th), Nathan Ephraims (27th) and Blake Govers (58th) scored the goals for the team. Australia will now play the bronze medal match on Sunday. Two-time champions Germany booked their place in the final for the first time since the 2010 season in New Delhi. Then the team missed out on completing the title hat-trick. This team became the champion in 2002 and 2006 while in 1982 also won the silver medal.

Germany also avenged their 1-3 loss to Australia in the semi-finals of the Tokyo Olympics. Three-time champions Australia missed out on a place in the final for the second time in a row. The team lost the semi-final match to Netherlands in 2018 as well and won the bronze medal. Earlier, they were successful in winning the title twice in 2010 and 2014. Australia were leading 2–0 in the 42nd minute and it seemed that the result of the match would be in their favour. Pilat, who played more than 100 matches for Argentina, however, changed the course of the match after that. Pilat, who played a key role in helping Argentina win the gold medal at the 2016 Olympics, is now a German citizen. He turned the match from Australia to Germany in the last 18 minutes.