Florian Fuchs scored what proved to be the winning goal in the 45th minute of the match at the Hockey Club Rotterdam to send Germany into fourth place on the standings.

Germany owed their success to Walter, who produced a string of superb stops to keep the Dutch side at bay in front of a capacity crowd.

The Netherlands, ranked third in the world, dropped down to sixth on the Pro League table following today's defeat.

The meeting between two of Europe’s most decorated teams largely failed to live up to expectations as the sides cancelled each other out for long periods.

The Dutch stepped up their game in the second-half and began to pepper the German goal with attacks as Walter was called into action to deny corner drag-flick efforts from Jip Janssen.

Walter also made a series of quick-fire saves to keep the scores level and Germany then went in front as Fuchs' fiercely-struck effort went through the legs of Dutch goalkeeper Sam Van der Ven.

The home side went in pursuit of an equaliser but they were unable to wind a way past Walter as Germany held on for a clinical win.

"It is important that we actually won the game, and it’s fine for me that I played such a good game as well," said Walter.

"We had a difficult first half, but we spoke at half time about that and in the second-half we performed really well and controlled the game. 

"We created our chances and we took them. 

"We were really unhappy that we couldn’t play our match against Argentina last week, but to play in front of such a big crowd [today in Rotterdam] is really nice."

The Pro League is due to continue tomorrow when Germany's women take on China in Changzhou.