Germany clinched the FIH Men’s Hockey World Cup for the third time by quashing Belgium’s hopes of back-to-back titles.

After the gripping contest ended 3-3 in regulation time, the Germans prevailed 5-4 in the shootout at the Kalinga Stadium here on Sunday. It is the same venue where Belgium had become world champions in 2018, but this time they failed to cross the final hurdle.

Niklas Wellen (29th), Gonzalo Peillat (41st) and captain Mats Grambusch (48th) scored for Germany in the regulation time, while Florent van Aubel Florent (10th), Tanguy Cosyns (11th) and Tom Boon (59th) found the target for Belgium.

It was another tale of a German fightback as, for the third time in the tournament, they came back after trailing 0-2. They had shown their mental steel in their earlier two matches, against England in the quarter finals and Australia in the semi-finals, by scripting similar turnarounds.

Germany, who had earlier won the title in 2002 and 2006, thus joined Australia and the Netherlands with three World Cup triumphs. Only Pakistan have won it four times.

The Germans, who were playing a World Cup final for the fifth time, displayed great skill and excellent temperament to overcome the challenge of a stronger Belgian side.

A day before the summit clash, Germany head coach Andre Henning had said that his team focused on making their defence stronger. But a two-minute Belgium blitzkrieg left the German defence in tatters.

Van Aubel gave Belgium the lead in the 10th minute. Then, even before the crowd at the packed stadium could settle down, Cosyns made it 2-0 as he got down on his knees and tapped in an Antoine Kina cross from the left.

With their back to the wall, the Germans invoked their never-say-die spirit once again to reduce the deficit two minutes before the breather as Wellen struck from a penalty corner variation.

The Germans kept on pressing and got the equaliser in the 41st minute when penalty corner expert Peillat sounded the board to make the scoreline 2-2.

The match then turned on its head as German skipper Grambusch gave his team the lead for the first time in the match three minutes into the fourth quarter. He pulled off a smashing reverse hit to which the Belgians had no answer.

But Belgium won a penalty corner with less than two minutes left in the game and their star scorer Boon converted it with his smart flick to send the game into a shoot-out.

With inputs from PTI