Hockey World Cup 2023: Germany snatch thrilling win over Australia in dying moments to reach final

Germany stunned Australia by scoring a winning goal with just six seconds remaining to win the semifinal of the FIH Hockey World Cup 2023. For the second game in a row, Germany came from a two-goal deficit to emerge winners. Unlike their quarterfinal against England, Germany this time emerged as the victors in the regular time, by 4-3.

Gonzalo Peillat starred for the winning team with a hat-trick, scored from penalty corners. He then played a key role in the winning goal also. It was his cross from the edge of the circle, on the right-hand side, along the baseline, that gave Niklas Wellen to score the fourth goal and seal the match.

Australia have fallen in the semifinal of the World Cup for the second time in a row, having lost to the Netherlands in the previous edition. Germany, on the other hand, have reached the final for the first time since 2010, when they had lost to the same team they played today, Australia.

Slow start to the game before Germany start asserting

The game didn’t start on a fast and furious note. In fact, the game was played at a very steady pace in the first quarter. Australia were easily the better team in this period. Though they didn’t bombard the German circle with repeated attacks but created almost all the scoring opportunities.

The Germans did manage to get two penalty corners awarded to them, but both were annulled after Australia went for a review. The Kookaburras did have a few good chances and earned one penalty corner. That one PC was converted to a goal by Jeremy Hayward.

Positioned at the near corner, Hayward moved to the far one after the injection and smashed the ball into boards, to give his team a 1-0 lead in the 12th minute.

The second quarter saw a complete turnaround in the pattern of play. Germany started to keep possession and repeatedly finding ways into the Australian circle. They were attacking only through the flanks as the Australians pretty much crowded out the center of the circle.

However, the Kookaburras were defending very well and keeping the Germans from scoring. After much trying, the European side finally managed to earn a PC, in the 20th minute. However, it didn’t yield any results.

Germany were calling the shots though and easily gaining possession in the midfield. This meant that Australia had to fall back completely on defense. However, the Kookaburras held their nerves and didn’t allow the numerous circle penetrations from their opponents to turn into a goal.

Then, in the 27th minute, Australia managed a brilliant counter-attack to double their lead. With Germany on all-out attack, a counter-attack was always on the cards. One of them produced a goal when Lachlan Sharp gave a brilliant long pass down the midfield to Tom Wickham.

Wickham, from the left-hand side, gave a cross to Nathan Ephraums who guided the ball into the goal.

Exciting second half leads to Germany's win

Australia’s difficulty to hold onto the possession continued into the second half. The third quarter too saw the Germans calling the shots. Australia just didn’t have the efficiency in passing and link-ups which one expects from them.

With the amount of pressure Germany was putting on their opponents, a goal was bound to come. It did, through a penalty corner in the 43rd minute. It took five back-to-back PCs for Peillat to finally get his team on the board.

This set up a brilliant last quarter, with just one goal dividing the two teams. Though Australia were trying hard to hold on to the possession and starting to make some good attacks of their own, Germany still had the upper hand.

In the 52nd minute, Germany equalized, with Peillat scoring again from a PC. Now, the game became really knife-edged.

The second goal from Germany seemed to bring out some intensity from Australia as they started to push harder. The Kookaburras enjoyed a brief period of dominance where they were attacking the goal and coming close to scoring.

This eventually led to a penalty corner with less than three minutes remaining. Blake Govers stepped up and scored with a brilliant drag-flick into the top-right corner to put his team ahead.

In response to this goal, the German team went on the attack, having removed their goalkeeper to add a field player. They managed to get another PC in the penultimate minute. Peillat, who had scored many hat-tricks for Argentina before shifting his loyalty, now registered his first for Germany. He too chose the top-right corner to score his third goal.

The match seemed headed for a shootout. However, the Germans are notorious for snatching the game in the dying moments. They did so again. With less than 10 seconds remaining, Peillat got the bal in the left-hand side, at the baseline and he gave the crucial pass.

However, there were two Australians blocking the path of the ball to Wellen on the far post. Unfortunately for the Kookaburras, not just their goalkeeper Andrew Charter, but also Jeremy Hayward and Matt Dawson failed to stop the ball. It bobbled through and reached Wellen, who easily tapped it into the net to win the match for his team.

The Australian team would be gutted, but they have to look at the entire game and realise that they gave too many opportunities to their opponents. In the end, it was a deserving win for the German team. Wellen, who played brilliantly as a forward and made some amazing runs, won the Player of the Match award.