Sports Bulletin Report
ISLAMABAD: The high quality hockey in both semi-finals were settled with moments of brilliance as Ireland and South Africa booked their spots in the first ever finals of the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup South Africa 2022, with the winning team earning a promotion into the FIH Hockey Pro League for the 2023-24 season.
France beat Canada (7-1):
France came into the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup as strong favorites but so far had flattered to deceive, with losses against Ireland and South Africa followed by a draw against Pakistan. Their defense had done reasonably well through most of the three matches, barring an errant 2nd half display against Pakistan, but their attack, which boasts of some real stars, never got going in the pool stage.
Things turned around big time today, as France met Canada in the 5-8 classification match. It took France 15 minutes to open the scoring through captain Victor Charlet, but that goal opened the floodgates and France scored 6 more goals over the course of the match. Blaise Rogeau was the pick of the players scoring the first hat-trick of the Nations Cup. Canada scored a cracking goal of their own through a Matthew Sarmento tomahawk shot from the edge of the circle, but it was little more than a consolation as the game ended 7-1 in favor of France.
Japan beat Pakistan (3-1):
Pakistan’s best performance in the Nations Cup ends up in a loss, as their failure to convert chances, and Japan’s helps Japan earn a victory and the opportunity to face France in the 5th place playoff.
Pakistan looked threatening through the first three quarters of the game, often getting into the Japanese circle with chances to score, but for all their attacking intent and opportunities, the final touch was missing. Their defense lived dangerously too, conceding far too many penalty corners, and Japan finally broke the deadlock right before half-time, through their 6th opportunity from the set piece. As Pakistan’s looked to mount a comeback, they overcommitted on attack, and Japan exposed the space behind the Pakistani defense with two goals on the counter-attack. Pakistan scored one goal of their own in the 4th quarter through the impressive Rooman, but it wasn’t enough, as Pakistan will now face Canada in the 7th place play-off, while Japan will face France in the battle for 5th place.
Ireland beat Malaysia (3-0):
Two moments of pure magic from Ireland in the third quarter broke a stalemate leading them to a win and a spot in the finals of the inaugural FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup 2022, in a tough, tactical battle against Malaysia.
In a tense and fairly even game, the momentum swung from one team to another, but neither team could find a breakthrough until the 41st minute, when a brilliant piece of control by Benjamin Walker in the Malaysian circle allowed him to swivel and smash a shot past the Malaysian keeper to give Ireland the lead. Two minutes later, yet another Irish attack from the left saw the ball pass around beautifully, allowing Jeremy Duncan to pass the ball into an empty goal. And while Malaysia searched for a way back into the game in the final quarter, it was Ireland through Duncan again, who created a wonderful 3-on-1 opportunity and scored the goal that sealed Malaysia’s fate.
South Africa beat Korea 1-1 (2-3 shootout):
Korea and South Africa met in the second semi-finals which proved to be another cagey affair with neither team able to produce a goal in the first half. But much like the first semi-final, a moment of brilliance broke the deadlock. For South Africa it was 25 year-old Tevin Kok, who has scored some belters already in the Nations Cup, coming up big once again, with a smashing reverse shot to open the scoring.
Jonghyun Jang, the leading scorer of the Nations Cup stepped up once again from the penalty corner, to get his 6th goal, to level the score for Korea and the match headed into a shoot-out. The shoot-outs are always a nervous affair, but that was not the case for South African keeper Anton van Loggerenberg, who was substituted in for the shoot-out, and showed no nerves as he showed remarkable composure in the goal throughout the shoot-outs.
