Germany defended the Men’s Hockey World Cup with a 1-0 victory over Spain in Wavre. Michel Struthoff scored the final’s only goal late in the third quarter as the German defence protected the country’s fourth world title.
WAVRE, Belgium | By Sayer Zaland
Germany retained the men’s FIH Hockey World Cup on Sunday with a 1-0 final victory over Spain, decided by Michel Struthoff’s close-range finish with 80 seconds left in the third quarter.
The defending champions absorbed long spells of Spanish pressure before turning their only circle entry of the third quarter into the winning goal. Struthoff moved across the goalmouth and touched the ball into an empty net after the goalkeeper had committed early.
Spain had created the clearer chances before the breakthrough. Borja Lacalle’s angled reverse-stick attempt forced an excellent glove save from Germany goalkeeper Jean-Paul Danneberg in the second quarter, and Danneberg made further interventions to keep the match goalless at half-time.
The Spanish side continued to press after falling behind and withdrew its goalkeeper with just under four minutes remaining. Germany’s defence held firm through the closing stages to complete a second consecutive World Cup triumph.
Christopher Rühr was named player of the match. “It was unbelievably tough. I think Spain played a hell of a tournament,” he said in comments published by the International Hockey Federation.
The result made Germany the first men’s team to win back-to-back Hockey World Cup titles on two separate occasions, according to the FIH, and delivered the nation’s fourth men’s world crown.
Earlier on the final day, Argentina defeated the Netherlands 2-1 in the bronze-medal match. Matias Rey scored the decisive penalty-corner goal in the 59th minute, giving Argentina its second men’s World Cup medal.
File photo: Germany and the Netherlands take part in the medal ceremony after the men’s hockey final at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Photo by DarDarCH via Wikimedia Commons, released under CC0 1.0.