Argentina dethroned the Netherlands in a dramatic shoot-out to claim the women’s World Cup crown in the Wagener Stadium.

It ended the Dutch side’s incredible reign as champions encompassing the last three titles as the South American side held their nerve in the shoot-out having been in the ascendancy for much of the final.

The two sides were meeting in a women’s Hockey World Cup final for the fifth time and there was precious little between the teams in the first half.

Cristina Consentino made the one save of note from Pien Dicke before the Dutch went into the lead just before half-time from the game’s first penalty corner via Yibbi Jansen.

But the second half belonged primarily to Argentina who spent most of the game on the front foot.

Their corner routines, however, were mostly misfiring until six minutes from the end when María Granatto cleaned up a corner rebound to make it 1-1 and a shoot-out.

There, they raced into a 2-0 lead and stayed clear with Sofia Cairo clinching it 3-1 in the fourth round.

An elated Cristina Cosentino was named as Player of the Match and said afterwards: “I really have no words for this. We were looking forward to this moment… Holland is a really tough opponent, and we knew it was going to be like that. So it was like fight each ball and the goal will come, and then just have fun in the shootout.

“I think it was something the team was looking forward to two tournaments ago in the Olympics, in the other World Cup. I think we really deserve it. We were a really good team along all the tournament, and I’m really proud of the girls that were fighting with me in this tournament.”

Earlier, Belgium ended a 48-year wait for a World Cup medal with a gritty 1-0 victory over Australia in the bronze-medal playoff.

Player of the tournament Charlotte Englebert rocketing home the only goal into the bottom right corner in the 20th minute from a penalty corner.

Englebert was thrilled to finish on a high, saying afterwards: “If we saw how we played the semi-final, we knew we had it in us to win the bronze medal today, and we kind of made it not an option to lose today.

“I think that’s what we did. We played until the last second. It was not easy because we had one striker less, so we had to run more, but it was the last game of the tournament, so it was a tough game, but I’m really, really proud of the team.”

She was later honoured with the top player award while Yibbi Jansen won the Hero Top Scorer prize for her eight goals. Australia’s Jocelyn Bartram was named best goalkeeper and Zoe Diaz was the JSW Rising Star.

The awards presentation also featured a special honour for two-time FIH Player of the Year Xan de Waard who played in her final international match after a sparkling career.

Picture: Ewoud Pahud de Mortanges/World Sport Pics