- France beat South Africa in Pool A match.
- Both teams had lost opening-day matches to Argentina and Australia.
- Norsyafiq Sumantri scored the winning goal for Malaysia.
By defeating South Africa 2-1 in a Pool A match in the FIH Odisha Hockey Men’s World Cup on Monday at the Kalinga Stadium in this location, France preserved their prospects of advancing to the quarterfinal.
South Africa had lost 0-1 to Argentina while France had opened with an 0-8 loss to World No. 1 Australia.
In both the recently finished FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup and the FIH Hockey Pro League, France and South Africa have faced off many times in the recent year. In the Pro League, South Africa was defeated twice by France, while South Africa triumphed in the Nations Cup.
Due to their opening-day defeats to Argentina and Australia, both teams knew a victory would help them avoid finishing last and increase their chances of advancing to the crossovers or quarterfinals.
As most spectators predicted, both teams played offensive hockey, although both teams’ goals in the first half came from penalty corners. With a low flick that slipped in between the goalkeeper and the post defender, Victor Charlet became the first to score. In the fifteenth minute, Connor Beauchamp tied the score for South Africa with a scorcher of a drag flick that went over the head of the French goalkeeper and into the net.
Similar patterns emerged in the second half, but Victor Charlet again proved to be the game-winner when he expertly placed a low drag flick into the bottom corner to give France the lead with less than four minutes left.
“We had made our plans for this game because we know South Africa are a good side, so it was good to execute on those plans and earn this crucial win in the group,” Charlet, who was awarded player of the match, was quoted as saying by FIH on its website.
Malaysia won 3-2 over Chile. Given that both sides had suffered defeats in their opening matches against the Netherlands and New Zealand, respectively, Malaysia and Chile knew that winning the first game on day 4 was essential.
Both teams had an open offensive flair in the match that they were unable to display in their initial games. The first goal from a penalty corner was scored by Chile, as Juan Amoroso’s drag flick beat the advancing Malaysian defenders and slammed the backboard. Razie Rahim then scored from a penalty kick as Malaysia responded. But Martin Rodriguez’s spectacular reverse shot gave Chile the advantage back just before the break.
Malaysia had their work cut out if they wanted to win the game in the second half, but they got their act together quickly, scoring twice in the third quarter. Ashran Hamsani got the leveller, acrobatically deflecting a high ball from over his head, into the goal.
After a Malaysian penalty corner effort was deflected by the initial rusher, Norsyafiq Sumantri cleverly sent the ball under the keeper on the reverse to give Malaysia the lead. Hafizuddin Othman of Malaysia prevented Chile from tying the score in the dying seconds when they were awarded a penalty corner. Malaysia thus claimed the victory and all three points. In recognition of scoring the game-winning goal for Malaysia, Norsyafiq Sumantri was named the match’s player of the match.
Captain Marhan Jalil speaking after his team’s win said: “We are happy with the win. It wasn’t the perfect game, we could have played much better. But it’s 3 points and that was what we needed today.”
[embedpost slug=”hockey-world-cup-netherlands-defeated-new-zealand-4-0/”]
