Men's Hockey WC: Belgium-Germany play out intense 2-2 draw
Jan 17, 2023
Bhubaneswar (Odisha) [India], January 17 : Defending champions Belgium and two-time winners Germany shared spoils after playing a thrilling 2-2 draw in their Pool B match of the ongoing FIH Men's Hockey World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium, Bhubaneswar on Tuesday.
With this win, both sides have four points each. However, Belgium maintains the top spot due to goal difference while Germany are in second place.
At the start of the first quarter, both teams were initially going back and forth in terms of attacking.
Belgium earned a penalty corner in the 5th minute of the match but failed to make much of it. Germany was trying to score, but Belgium took the lead in the ninth minute after Charlier Cedric's flick reached the nets.
At the end of the first quarter, the scoreline read 1-0 in favour of the defending champions.
In the second quarter, Germany did let go off a goal-scoring opportunity but Niklas Wellen scored diagonally to make things even. At the end of the second quarter and the first half, the scoreline read 1-1.
The third quarter saw Germany playing with more attacking intent. In the 40th minute, Belgium's Tom Boon was given a green card and had to go off-field for two minutes. Belgium players tried to counter-attack, but nothing much really came out of it.
With 15 more minutes to go, the scoreline read 1-1 and both teams were still in search of the winning goal.
Germany's Christopher Ruhr tried to score with help of some attacking shots but it was defended well by Belgium.
In the 52nd minute of the match, Germany got a penalty stroke and Tom Grambusch converted it into a goal to give Germany a lead.
In the 54th minute, Germany's Prinz Thies was given a green card and had to be off-field for two minutes.
Belgium made great use of the temporary player shortage faced by the Germans as Victor Wegnez scored in the 54th minute.
The match ended with both things even.
