Holders Belgium wary of German resilience in hockey WC final

Olympic champions Belgium will look to overcome a resilient Germany and become only the fourth nation to defend the FIH Mens Hockey World Cup title when the two sides clash in the final here on SundayPakistan Australia and Germany have won backtoback titles in the past and Belgium who made it to the worlds elite just around a decade ago would seek to achieve that feat and defend their title which they won in 2018 at the same Kalinga StadiumWith 11 players aged above 30 and three above 35 Belgiums golden generation of hockey players who have won the 2018 World Cup and Tokyo Olympics golds have shown that they are supremely fit and experience matters more than ageBelgium have come with the bulk of team which had won the last edition of the event and Tokyo GamesIt is difficult to find out any major weakness in this Belgium team which has some of the worlds finest attacking and defensive players as well as penalty corner specialistsThey also have one of the best goalkeepers in the world in the form of Vincent VanaschBelgium have scored 18 goals with star striker Tom Boon contributing seven and conceded just five in as many matchesBut the world no2 side would be wary of the German culture of resilience which has been in full display in this World Cup as the Die Honamas twice came back from 02 down to reach the finalTwotime champions Germany 2002 and 2006 were trailing by two goals against England in the quarterfinals but struck twice in the last two and half minutes to take the game into penalty shootout where they emerged winnerIn the semifinals on Friday world number four Germans were again trailing Australia one of the title contenders by 02 at half time but their neversaydie attitude came to the fore as they made fought back to level the scores before finding the winner in dramatic fashion with just six seconds left on the clockWe 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 saidAlso readHockey World Cup 2023 Same two shameGermany 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 DenayerThe depth in the Belgium team can also be gauged from the fact that the absence of penalty corner expert and star defender Alexander Hendrickx due to injury early in the tournament was not feltThe 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 eachArthur Van Doren and Arthur de Sloover will be the main men at the Belgium defence while captain Denayer and Victor Wegnez will try to control the midfieldGermany on the other hand will be looking to clinch their first title after 2006 and join the club of other three countries to have won the World Cup thrice or moreApart from the advantage of having recorded two comefrombehind wins the Germans have been able to succeed in different playing situationsGermany adopted mantoman marking game against England while they played a zonal system against Australia in the semifinalsThey did not allow the normally fluid Australians to play their attacking style of play with more ball possessionThe 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 hattrick was instrumental in the 43 win over AustraliaWe 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 saidThe two sides were together in the same group and there was nothing to separate between them in their 22 draw Pool B matchTom Grambusch the younger brother of captain Mats and Niklas Wellen scored in that match and the duo will be Germanys key players once again on SundayTom 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 gamesHistorically 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 otherGermany have won 13 times while seven matches were drawnGermany have beaten Belgium just once in FIH Pro League match in November last year since July 2017Losing semifinalists Australia and Netherlands will face each other in the bronze medal match earlier in the day