The South African men’s hockey team brought cheer to their nation today with a stunning 4-3 win in Tokyo in pool B action.
This was the first victory for SA at the Olympics after losing their first three matches to Great Britain, Netherlands and Belgium.
The win was much needed for a team who had come close previously in the tournament with their gritty displays. They had a 3-0 lead against the Netherlands but ended up losing 5-3.
The SA men’s hockey team had previously prepared for this tournament with a preparation camp at the NWU in Potch and today all those preparation work finally came to fruition a victory.
Against the fourth seeded Germany they not only had to retain the lead in a frantic final 10 minutes to keep the marauding and much fancied Germans out, but they also had to fight hard to come back from 2-3 down. One of the talented Cassiem brothers, Mustapha, scored the winning goal after his cross deflected into the net.
Germany scored the first goal through Timm Alexander Herzbruch, before SA’s Matt Guise-Brown levelled the score from a penalty corner. Keenan Horne scored the second goal taking a smart opportunity in front of the net to give SA the lead for the first time in this encounter.
Lukas Windfeder equalised for Germany in the second quarter before Constantin Schaib gave Germany the advantage after a rebound. SA though never gave up and third quarter goals from Nic Spooner and Cassiem sealed a famous win.
South Africa play their last pool match against Canada tomorrow (Friday, 30 July) with the action starting at 05:15.
SA hockey men stun Germany with superb Olympics victory | Potchefstroom Herald
