Hockey World Cup: Germany dethrone Belgium in sudden-death thriller to end 17-year wait for third title

Belgium took turns to show that in a test that refused to end, until Belgium died a 'sudden death', which gave the Germans a third Men's Hockey World Cup title -- first since 2006. It was Germany first who put the game on a knife's edge by erasing a two-goal deficit to level it at 2-2 and then got into the lead at 3-2. Then, it was the turn of the defending champions.The Red Lions' refusal to give up earned them a penalty corner in the 59th minute and Tom Boon came to the party to make it 3-3 and push the game into a shootout.

But that wasn't enough to give the 15th edition of the World Cup its winner. It remained 3-3 in the shootout as well, until Tanguy Cosyns missed for Belgium in sudden death to see the Germans, clad in black shirts, running towards goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg.Had Belgium won, they would have been the fourth team to successfully defend the title after Pakistan (1978 and 1982), Germany (2002 and 2006) and Australia (2010 and 2014).

The game of fine margins didn't open that way. The Germans defended for most part of the first five minutes, until their first meaningful entry into the Belgian circle earned them a penalty corner after a video referral. But Peillat, who hit a hat-trick against Australia in the semifinal, wasn't in his elements by then. His drag-flicks were sorted out by the Belgian rushers.It was the 10th minute when the Belgian ascendancy resulted in a goal.

(AFP Photo)Tom Boon got a loose ball and went for a tomahawk, but the ball took a deflection from a German stick to go out for a long corner. Belgium didn't waste time to restart, and Florent van Aubel managed to control a bouncing ball from Antoine Kina, which he slammed into the German post on the bounce.A minute later, Kina once