Again, the German national hockey team is clearly behind, again they turn the game: Niklas Wellen scored the decisive goal against Australia a few seconds before the end of the game. The defending champion is now waiting in the final.
After his winning goal in the proverbial last second, there was no stopping Niklas Wellen. Completely euphoric, the match winner stormed across the field and shouted his joy at reaching the World Cup final in Bhubaneswar's hockey stadium. Six seconds before the end of regular time, the 28-year-old shot the German national team after another crazy comeback to 4: 3 (0: 2) against Australia - the first world championship title in 17 years is now within reach.
"We believe in each other," said Wellen, who was named player of the semi-finals after a terrific comeback after being down 2-0 and 3-2: "The fact that we shot it in regular time is crazy, the team is crazy . We're not done here."
National coach Andre Henning was "impressed" with how "calm and clear" his team remained despite the deficit: "If I weren't the coach of this team, I would be the biggest fan from today," enthused Henning. He was impressed by "how hard we play hockey" and "what mental strength we bring with us".
In the final, Germany meets Belgium again on Sunday (2:30 p.m. CET/DAZN). The defending champions beat European champions Netherlands 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out in the second semi-final, after regulation time it was 2-2 (1-1). Germany drew 2-2 with Belgium in the group stage. With reaching the final, Henning's team has their first World Cup medal since 2010 (silver) in their pockets. In 2002 and 2006, the selection of the German Hockey Association (DHB) won the title.
The comeback had previously been heralded by Argentinian Gonzalo Peillat, who has only played for Germany since last year, with a hat-trick (42nd/51st/58th). Jeremy Hayward (11th), Nathan Ephraums (26th) and Blake Govers (57th) were successful in India for world number one Australia.
The German team had already proven their comeback qualities in the quarter-finals. The DHB team had qualified for the round of the top four (4:3) after a strong fightback with two late goals against England in a shootout thriller.
After just one minute, Australia had their first good opportunity from a penalty corner, but keeper Alexander Stadler made a safe save. Germany got into the game better and better, but couldn't get through against the three-time world champions. After another penalty corner, Australia finally took the lead through Hayward, and a little later Stadler prevented the next goal.
However, the DHB team was not deterred by this and repeatedly put Australia under pressure in the second quarter. But Tom Grambusch after a penalty corner and Christopher Rühr failed to keeper Andrew Charter. After a counterattack, Ephraums raised.
After half-time, Germany continued to look for a way forward, but was initially unsuccessful, and Stadler again had to intervene decisively at the back. After penalty corners, Peillat finally rewarded the offensive efforts of the DHB team and thus compensated for Australia's renewed lead by Govers. Wellen made the last-minute victory perfect.
