Germany came from two goals down to claim a second straight hockey World Cup on Sunday, defeating Olympic champions Australia 4-3 in a thrilling repeat of the 2002 final.

In winning on home soil, Germany succeeded where their soccer compatriots had failed and the 12,000-strong crowd in the Warsteiner Hockeypark were able to relive some of the excitement generated during this summer's football World Cup.

Germany trainer Bernhard Peters, in his last match in charge before starting a job with a regional German football team, said he had been sceptical even up to a few weeks before the tournament whether such a young team could triumph.

"It was amazing the way the boys turned the match around in the second half," Peters said. "The team showed incredible will power and I am very, very proud."

Roared on by the boisterous crowd, Germany began the final strongly and took the lead in the 18th minute when powerful forward Christopher Zeller burst into the circle and sent a deflected shot low into the goal.

Australia hit back almost immediately, with Germany's semi-final penalty hero Ulrich Bubolz unable to keep out a powerful strike from Mark Knowles at a penalty corner.

Less than 10 minutes later the Kookaburras were ahead after Matthew Naylor fired the ball high into the net past Bubolz from another short corner.

Australia, who won their only World Cup in 1986 in London, extended their lead at the start of the second period when Troy Elder scored after a break down the left.

But Germany forced their way back into the match with two quick goals. Moritz Fuerste slid the ball in for 2-3 and veteran Bjoern Emmerling sent a lucky reverse-stick shot looping over Stephen Mowlam to level the score.

WILD SUPPORT

Five minutes later Germany retook the lead. Strong running from the superb Zeller took him into the circle and he cleverly slipped the ball underneath Mowlam to send the partisan local supporters wild.

Australia pressed for an equaliser, with Luke Doerner firing against a post in the 66th minute, but Germany held firm.

"If you score three goals in a World Cup final you expect to win but to Germany's credit they just kept on coming," Australia captain Brent Livermore said at the post-match news conference.

"We felt like we had our hands on the cup at 3-1 but it just slipped away."

Australia were missing 2004 world player of the year Jamie Dwyer, who was voted player of the tournament. The clinical forward picked up a slight hamstring strain in the 4-2 semi-final win over South Korea.

Earlier on Sunday, European champions Spain beat South Korea 3-2 with an extra-time golden goal to take bronze. Spain were the only team to beat Australia in the group stage, but lost to Germany on penalties in their semi-final.

(Reuters September 18, 2006)