World Cup Mene hockey/field 2023 concludes on Sunday at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar, in India, with the final between Belgium (n°2 in the world), and Germany (n°3). Defending champions, The Red Lions finally lost in the “shoot out” (shots at goal), after a final that was rich in twists and turns (3-3, 4-3) This German win will cheer up the French side who had been eliminated by Germany in round of 16 (5-1). But the final 13th place Blues led by Valenciennes Frédéric Be was a definite disappointment.
Hence, the Belgian hockey players experienced the same trauma this Sunday night in India as the French footballers had two months earlier. Belgium lost its world title, after a penalty shoot-out session, similar to a shot against France-Argentina.
The Red Lions, world champions and Olympic champions in title contention, however quickly took a 2-0 lead in this 2023 World Hockey Cup final. But Germany actually reversed the trend by rising 2-2 in the first round. Better yet, Germany will take advantage. But the Red Lions pulled level with 97 seconds remaining, thanks Tom Boon.
A fatal shooting session for Belgium
But this time, the gunfight was not smiling on the Belgians. After the first series of 5 shots, the two teams were actually decided by “sudden death”. Cosyns missed his shot in the 2nd series. Germany were crowned world champions (3-3, penalties: 5-4) for the third time in their historyThe Red Lions are content with the silver medal. A real disappointment after the 2018 world title, and Olympic title in Tokyo.
France ended with a win against Chile
The French team ended up finishing 13th in this 2023 World Cup, played in the Odisha region, in India. After being eliminated in a penalty shootout (2-2, 1-2) Thursday against Wales, the Blues beat Chile (23rd country in the world) 4-2. This final classification match takes place on Saturday at Rourkel.
After dominating the 1st half, leading 3-0 thanks to three goals from Eliot Curty (14th), then two on PC marked by its captain, Lille Victor Charles (17 and 18), the tricolor election will again show defensive weakness.
The Blues thus conceded Chile’s goal (Franco Becerra, 20th) before the break. The scenario will also repeat in the 2nd period. The young Gaspar Xavier scored his first World Cup goal and gave France a comfortable lead (4-1, 42nd) against Chile. But South America reduced the score one last time Andrés Pizzaro (53).
The team is led by Valenciennes Frederick Be hence the 4-2 win, no worries; but without producing big games either. After this win against Chile, the Blues have a record of 2 draws, 2 draws and 2 defeats at the 2023 World Cup. Therefore it ended in a disappointing 13th, considering the progress made in recent years.
Victor Charlet scored the 2nd goal of the tournament
And even if it doesn’t reach its quarter-final goal, the French team is able to measure the work it has to do to try to win against the top 5 nations. Thus we will tally up two corrections against Australia (0-8), and Germany (1-5), both of whom reached the last four of this World Cup India.
The French team includes five northern players in its line-up. One of them, the captain Victor Charles finished as 2nd goalscorer in the competition, tied with the Belgian Tom Boon (8 goals each), behind Australia Jeremy Hayward (9 goals). Charlet managed a great 2023 World Cup, and was named MVP (player of the match) several times.
See you at the Euros next August in Monchengladbach. A competition that France qualified last summer in Calais.
Hockey World Cup 2023 final standings
- German
- belgium
- Dutch
- Australia
- English
- Spanish
- New Zealand
- Korea
- Argentina
- India
- south Africa
- Wales
- France
- Malaysia
- Chile
- Japan
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