The German’s scintillating performance at the Indian city's Kalinga Stadium moves them onto six points, three points clear of the Dutch.

They are now favourites to top Pool D and claim a direct ticket to the quarter-finals.

A draw or a win for Germany against Malaysia, who drew with Pakistan in the second match of the day, on Sunday would seal the all-important first-place finish ahead of The Netherlands.

The opening goal of the match between Germany and The Netherlands arrived in the 13th minute with Valentin Verga giving the Dutch the advantage.

Verga drove in from the left before seeing his cross-shot take a wicked deflection off a Germany stick to put The Netherlands into the lead on the occasion of Max Caldas’s 100th match in charge of the team.

Germany dragged themselves level just before half-time, though, with Mathias Müller finishing off a penalty corner identical to one he had missed shortly after the deadlock had been broken.

The Netherlands were well on top in the third quarter but failed to take advantage of numerous penalty corner opportunities.

It was something that would ultimately cost them dear, with Germany producing a brilliant display in the final quarter to claim a memorable triumph over their great rivals.

Lukas Windfeder’s low penalty corner drag-flick put Germany ahead in the 52nd minute before a typical poacher’s finish from Marco Miltkau made it 3-1.

The Dutch tried to rally, but any hope of rescuing the match ended when Christopher Rühr launched a penalty stroke high into The Netherlands goal to complete the scoring and put Germany firmly in control of Pool D.

"It is crazy to play 4-1 against the Dutch - we didn’t expect that," Germany’s Mats Grambusch said.

"They were the better team in the third-quarter, and we conceded a few penalty corners against us and they could have scored, but they didn’t because of our good defence.

"In the end, we had the power to turn the match around in the final quarter."

Malaysia and Pakistan took to the field in today’s second Pool D match with 1-1 draw leaving the latter in third place, ahead of the former on goal difference.

After a scoreless three quarters, Pakistan took the lead in the fourth when Muhammad Atiq received a long pass from midfield before turning his marker and finding the bottom corner of the Malaysia goal.

It was a strike that left Malaysia’s future in the competition very much hanging in the balance.

But they hit back with five minutes left to play thanks to a superb penalty corner drag-flick from player of the match Faizal Saari, who sent an unstoppable effort into the top-left corner to keep alive his team’s hopes of moving into the knock-out stages.

Action in Bhubaneswar is due to continue tomorrow with the final round of Pool A matches.

Reigning Olympic champions Argentina go up against France following Spain's meeting with New Zealand.

Currently, Argentina sit at the summit of the standings on six points, with New Zealand in second place on three. 

Spain and France both have one point from their two games, with the former in third place ahead of their European rivals courtesy of having scored more goals.

All pool winners will earn a direct ticket to the quarter-finals, while the teams that finish second and third will go into the cross-over play-offs.