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The second round matches in Hockey World Cup Pool C have begun and in the first match, Canada held their fort to draw 1-1 against a much inspiring South Africa at the Kalinga Stadium in Bhubaneswar on Sunday.
All the attraction was for second match, where the home team would play in their crucial match against Belgium. But the hockey-loving crowd of Bhubaneswar didn’t sit at home at came out to watch the first match. Canada got the majority of support having few Indian-origin players in their ranks.
The match was a do or die battle for both the teams as both of them needed in order to stay in contention for the next round. The task of South Africa was tougher as they were drubbed by five goals against India. Canada were expected to show the same fighting spirit which they did in their earlier match against Belgium.
In the end, both the team shared spoils. As it stands, chances for them going to the next round looks increasingly bleak. They will play with pride in their next match.
#5 Despite initial domination, South Africa fail to take their chances
From the very first minute, it was South Africa who showed more urgency on the field. Of course, they had to win the game in order to stay in the competition. They were purposeful and were looking aggressive from the first minute.
South Africa were making the use of their wings but mainly, attacks were coming in from Daayan Cassiem and Nicholas Spooner. Moreover, they were bossing the possession and giving Canada no room for attack.
South Africa got their first real chance in the 11 minute when Spooner crosses from the left wing and Nqobile Ntuli was in a favourable position to poke the ball home. However, he slipped and the shot went wide. A minute later, Cassiem missed another chance to put his team ahead. They have created eight circle penetrations in the first quarter.
The Mark Hopkins coached side started with the same aggression in the second quarter too. But this time Canada was more cautious in their defence and didn’t allow South Africa to get a space. But there missed number of chances in the first two quarters should’ve score not once but twice.
#4 Strong defending by Canada
In their first match against Belgium, Canada showed brilliant resilience in their defensive half. Against an attack everybody would fear, Canada stood tall and even though they lost the match, they didn’t let in more than two goals.
Against South Africa also, Canada were on the back foot right from the start. South Africa took control of the match from the very first minute and the making circle penetrations again and again. It was looking like a goal from South Africa was just a matter of time.
But Canada their doubters wrong once again. Amid constant pressure, the defenders stayed calm and thwarted every attack that came in their way. They didn’t commit a single mistake and had not allowed their opposition space to play. The only goal that South Africa scored was against the run of play when most Canada players were busy in counter attack.
#3 South Africa could have showed more urgency
The game was all for South Africa to play. The players have toiled hard to come this far. We have already heard stories of players who paid from their pocket to make it to Bhubaneswar. After a worst experience against India, where they were beaten by 0-5, the only option left for South Africa was to beat Canada to make any chance for crossovers.
After the draw, the task is tougher. South Africa now have only one point from two matches, similar to Canada but the former is standing on bottom due to their inferior goal difference. South Africa will now have to beat Belgium in their last match to qualify, which is quite unimaginable, given the way the Reds played against India.
South Africa might take heart from the fact that they perhaps done their best against an opponent whom they had real chance to beat. They took the opportunities, dominated in the first half but the lack of urgency from some players cost them the match.
#2 Carter saves the day for Canada
The name of David Carter and Canadian field hockey team has now become synonymous. The goalkeeper is playing for his country for the last decade and witnessed the success of the team closely.
Carter has an experience of playing Hockey World Cup in India when he participated in the 2010 edition in New Delhi. The Canadian single-handedly helped his team to qualify for the Rio Olympics. Now on another important match, Carter rose to the occasion and helped his team yet again.
The goalkeeper has made a name for himself by saving penalty corners. On Sunday, he saved three from the South Africa players. At least two of them was from excellent piece of skills.
South Africa got two PCs towards the end of the first quarter and failed to utilise both. The save from Carter during the second PC was out of the world. The ball was going towards the top corner before Carter laid out his left hand to keep the ball away.
South Africa got three back to back PCs in the second quarter and once again it was Carter’s heroics which denied them a goal.
#1 No goal from Penalty Corners
Nowadays, Penalty Corners are considered the most potent weapon to score goals in hockey. Every team, who want to make a name for themselves in the sport, have at least one specialist drag flicker.
For example, Argentina have the best drag flicker of the world Gonzalo Peillat, India have Rupinder Pal Singh and Harmanpreet Singh. Likewise, South Africa have Austin Smith who has made a reputation scoring from penalty corner
On a day, when the teams got eight penalty corners among themselves, there was not a single goal that came out of it. Six of them was won by South Africa and apart of three, which was saved by Carter, three other went wasted by them.
For South Africa, there was no proper planning in place while taking penalty corners. Canada perhaps was more concentrated in making their field opportunities count as both of their penalty corners missed the target.
