World Cup for SA women and drawing board for men
PARKTOWN – The South African women ended 5th with a World Cup qualification while the men ended 9th.
The South African (SA) hockey women booked their spot in the 2018 London Hockey World Cup while the men are forced to go back to the drawing board.
The women beat Ireland 3–0 in the 5th/ 8th play-off match to secure their place in the World Cup. Because the women won the match to go on to play for 5th place, they qualified for the World Cup as the top 6 automatically go through.
In the 5th/ 6th place match, they beat Japan 2–1 to finish 5th in the competition. The men, however, played a relegation match against Japan and beat them 2–1 to finish 9th in the competition.
Women’s results:
- SA 0–0 India
- SA 1–3 Argentina
- SA 0–1 Chile
- SA 3–2 United States (US)
- SA 0–1 Germany
- SA 3–0 Ireland
- SA 2–1 Japan
Men’s Results:
- SA 0–2 Ireland
- SA 3–4 Germany
- SA 1–2 Egypt
- SA 1–9 Belgium
- SA 4–1 Japan
Highlights for the men include their match against Japan when Dayaan Cassiem (18) played his best game in his very short SA hockey career. Cassiem scored SA’s final goal against Japan. During the match, Austin Smith who is capped at four goals in the tournament scored two goals to bring his career cap to 56.
For the women, their win against the US was significant as it acted as the match to have them bounce back into the competition. During the match, Candice Manuel scored her 46th cap after scoring the second goal of the game.
While most matches didn’t go in SA’s favour, the women managed to secure a spot in the World Cup and the men managed to get international exposure to adjust their game for future.
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World Cup spot still possible for SA women’s hockey team
