Another shootout thriller – and another hockey hero named Jean Danneberg: the German comeback kings are back on the World Cup throne after 17 years. The team of national coach Andre Henning prevailed in the final with 5:4 in the dramatic penalty shoot-out against Belgium, after regulation time it was 3:3 (1:2). Goalkeeper Jean Danneberg made three saves in the penalty shootout.
In Bhubaneswar, Niklas Wellen (29th), Gonzalo Peillat (41st) and captain Mats Grambusch (48th) put the selection of the German Hockey Association (DHB) on the road to success after initially being 2-0 down. Previously, Florent van Aubel (10th) and Tanguy Cosyns (11th) had scored for the defending champion Belgium, Tom Boon (59th) saved the Olympic champion in the penalty shootout. There, Germany kept its nerve and secured the long-awaited third World Cup gold after 2002 and 2006. The Belgians, already group opponents of the German team (2: 2), meanwhile missed the second World Cup success after 2018. The Netherlands had previously won bronze secured against Australia (3:1).
After two spectacular comebacks in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, Grambusch left no doubt about his team’s ambitions: “Now we certainly won’t give it away in the end. We’ll definitely win the pot.”
Germany entered the final with a dramatic last-minute win over Australia. Against the world number one, Peillat, who was born in Argentina and has only worn the German jersey since last year, brought the DHB team back on course for the final within ten minutes with a hat trick after being down 0:2 and 2:3. With six seconds remaining, Wellen had scored the winning goal.
In the quarter-finals against England, Germany had equalized a 0-2 draw with two late goals in regular time and then prevailed in a penalty shoot-out (4-3). And the German team also fell directly behind against Belgium in their first World Cup final since 2010, which the DHB team had lost at the time. In what had been a balanced and fast-paced game, van Aubel and Gougnard scored for Belgium in the first quarter, and the Olympic champion then continued to apply pressure.
In the second quarter, there was a great opportunity to score a goal: Victor Wegnez slipped into a pass from Moritz Trompertz to Niklas Wellen in a circle, and Tom Grambusch took the penalty. However, the 27-year-old was denied by his teammate Vincent Vanasch of German champions Rot-Weiss Köln in the Belgian goal. Wellen, who became a father for the first time during the preliminary round match against Belgium, scored a little later after a penalty corner from close range.
After the break, Germany tried to equalize, but initially failed to get through decisively. But penalty corner specialist Peillat could be relied on again, the 30-year-old equalized and Gambusch increased. The answer came shortly before the end from Boon after a penalty corner.