Usual suspects Germany win Cup

Of the 10 editions of the Junior World Cup,Germany have won six. Pakistan,Australia,India and Argentina have won one each. Its a hegemony not unlike Indias between 1928-1980. If the German U-21 team were a business firm,such monopoly wouldve invoked Europes anti-trust law.

Their competition on Sunday couldnt have been more unlikely. France dont have a tradition of hockey as their west European neighbours Holland,Germany,Spain,Belgium or Great Britain have. Their senior mens team is ranked 17th in the world,behind,among others,Malaysia,Belgium,Argentina and Spain,whose junior teams the French colts defeated here during their dream run.

The reason behind their success is the investment that the French federation has put in their youth system in recent years. In 2012,they finished fourth in the Junior Euro Hockey,behind Belgium,Germany and Holland. They were competitive in that event,except for one match that they lost 8-0 to Germany.

In the first half on Sunday,egged on by the chants of Allez,Les Bleus,they showed they have made further progress. In fact,between the second minute to the half-time whistle,it was France who were playing like Germany. Germany,in turn,were barely recognisable from the rampant team of previous matches,playing more like India on big-match days sloppy and full of nerves.

Germany went one up because of a defensive lapse by Frances Ludovic Fourcroy,whose failure to clear the ball in front of the goalmouth was duly exploited by Niklas Wellen.

For the rest of the first half,it was France who looked more like scoring. And they did in the 17th minute.

On the French team sheet,amid mostly Gallic-sounding names,Pieter van Straaten and Niels van Straaten stand out. Actually,the van Straaten brothers are Dutch passport holders,who opted to play for France after they couldnt make it to the Holland team. On Sunday,wearing Red,White and Blue they were fighting for gold after the Oranje U-21 team settled for bronze.

Pieter was absolutely everywhere in the field,intercepting passes and launching attacks. In the 16th minute,he dispossessed Max Kapun and sliced through the German defence before setting up Gaspard Baumgarten with a measured pass. From top of the circle,the unmarked Baumgarten took a clear view of the goal and let fly. The German goalkeeper,Aly Victor,just stood and watched the ball fly past him and into the back of the net.

France also blunted top-scorer and player of the tournament Christopher Ruhrs threat,having assigned the biggest player on the pitch,Victor Charlet,to man mark the German sensation. The 64 Charlet did the job with aplomb,never allowing Ruhr the luxury of space.

France got a couple of more chances,but a yellow card to Cristoforo Peters-Deutz in the 25th minute took some sting out of their moves and allowed Germany to go into half-time level at 1-1.

They went ahead five minutes after the break when Baumgarten slammed in a rebound off Frances first penalty corner. It stirred something in Germany and Ruhr immediately earned a penalty corner,but the variation that they tried didnt quite work.

However,three minutes later,in the 44th minute of the match,Germany levelled with Wellen hitting home from close range after Alexander Schollokopfs scoop from the byline fell his way at the far post.

Next minute Germany were ahead after French defender Florent Fenaert blundered a routine clearance and passed the ball to Wellen inside the French striking circle. Wellen gleefully accepted it and scored his hat-trick goal.

After this soft goal,Frances wheels came off while Germany broke away,with Jonas Gomoll scoring in the 60th minute and Ruhr hitting his ninth goal of the tournament two minutes from time.

In the end,the 5-2 scoreline was roughly consistent with Germanys overall performance in the tournament. They scored 27 goals and conceded 12. Thats 4.5-2 per game.