Men's Hockey World Cup: Belgium win first Cup of gold

It's almost poetic justice that Belgium hockey's golden generation was made to celebrate twice for its first gold medal, what with the team being confined to being the second best a couple of times at the 2016 Rio Olympics and the 2017 European Championship.

In a comical ending to a seriously skillful display of defensive hockey that saw a 0-0 full time score, the fast-rising Belgium on Sunday made history in their maiden Men's World Cup final by beating three-time champions Netherlands 3-2 in the penalty shootouts that gave them a feeling of becoming world champions twice.

With Belgium one shot away from glory after Holland's Thijs van Dam failed to give his team the edge at 2-2 in the shootouts, Arthur de Sloover dribbled, turned his back and then struck the ball past Dutch goalkeeper Pirmin Blaak.

While some Belgians charged towards Sloover from the half line, the others ran to a jumping goalkeeper Vincent Vanasch. The ground staff, meanwhile, came rushing out with billboards and carpets to set up the stage for the presentation ceremony.

Amidst all this running, everyone missed an important gesture from Blaak, who asked the umpires for a review of the final shot. It showed the ball had touched Sloover's foot.

The sprints gave way for slow-motion walks – not the ground staff, though, who was ordered to exit the field in the same pace they entered – while Vanasch stood like a rock after those umpteen off-the-ground moves.

But while Vanasch was unmoved, so was his mind.

The 30-year-old regained his composure, walked up to his area of comfort and made Jeroen Hertzberger miss the first sudden death shot by driving him away to an angle from where the Dutch could only misfire.

Florent van Aubel ensured his Belgium teammates had to wait for only one more shot for their Victory Run 2.0, which, believe it or not, was the end.

"We spoke pre-game about destiny in the air, and if the stars were aligned, we could walk away by being world champions," Belgium coach Shane McLeod said of the uncharacteristic finish.

"And then, when that happened, I was wondering if this was a sad joke, because that's what it felt like. For a split second, we had won it, and to have that ripped away from us, it only made me value it a little bit more," he added.

Nothing probably can truly define the value of this victory for Belgium, a team that turned setbacks into a show of spirit throughout their campaign.

Their former captain, John-John Dohmen, had to withdraw midway from the tournament due to bronchitis. Their midfielder Simon Gougnard learnt about his father's death hours before the team's semifinal against England, and yet stayed back to see him and his teammates crowned champions.

"It brought us a little bit closer together," said captain Thomas Briels.

That camaraderie was on show on the field on Sunday, the solid, well-rounded Belgium game proving to be too rigid for the speedy Netherlands to break.

It was a classic cat-and-mouse tussle for 60 minutes — Tom trying to intimidate Jerry, Jerry trying to irritate Tom; Netherlands making a wave of attacks including two penalty corners on Belgium, the Belgians sneaking into the Dutch circle ever so often themselves.

It the end, regulation time saw no winner. The penalty shootouts did. Not once, but twice.