The South African Indoor Hockey Men, powered by Tops at SPAR, were still feeling the effects of a bruising encounter with Czech Republic on Monday night as they returned to the park to take on the USA on Tuesday. Both teams knew a win would give them a wonderful position in lining up for the Quarter-Finals. South Africa got the best possible start when they were awarded a penalty stroke early on. Mustapha Cassiem stood up and fired the ball home superbly past Klages. It was a lead that wouldn’t last long as Klages reacted first to fire home and before the end of the first quarter he had a second and the US had a lead. South Africa had a golden opportunity to pull level as a stroke was awarded again but Klages went the right way and denied the South African hot shot. Mustapha may have been stopped from scoring but he provided the assist as a diving Ryan Julius levelled matters. But once again the South Africans were trailing as Stuart Kantwell was on hand to finish after an Anton van Loggerenberg save. The third quarter was a quarter of few opportunities with the South Africans and Americans cancelling each other out throughout the court. South Africa were chasing the game in the final quarter. And in chasing the game the South Africans were caught out. USA Star Aki Kaeppeler made it 4-2 and when South Africa pulled their keeper Pat Harris made it 5-2 to secure the result for the North Americans and send the South Africans back to the drawing board.   Source: SAHockey.co.za | February 7, 2023

The SPAR South Africa Women’s Hockey team took on USA for the first time since 2015 at the Heartfelt Arena today. Their Pool A encounter was also a chance for either team to get an upper hand in the battle for a quarter final spot The South Africans put in a massive effort last night against the Netherlands and that was evident in the early exchanges as the South Africans were unable to find what they needed. While the South Africans couldn’t raise the pace the Americans were loving the occasion and looking to inspire through 14-year-old Reece D’Ariano. While South Africa had the lion’s share of the possession, they were unable to much with it and USA looked more dangerous on attack. They turned the danger into a lead when Hannah Miller stepped into a pocket of space and fired home past Greyvenstein. With South Africa failing to convert from their penalty corners the score remained 1-0 at the half time break. While that would have been a bad scenario for the hosts, it got worse after the break when D’Ariano picked up the ball on the base line and fired it across goal with Greyvenstein unable to make a save that she would have been disappointed to miss. But the hosts showed South African fighting spirit and came back into the match with a great determination. They found themselves level through Tegan Fourie who showed tremendous tenacity to score her 51st international indoor goal. The game was crying out for a captain’s contribution, and it came from Jess O’Connor. She effected a number of turnovers, forced her way into the circle and on the reverse forced the ball home. Despite a big effort from both teams there would be no winner and the point were shared.   Source: SAHockey.co.za | February 7, 2023

February 6, 2023 Hosts South Africa joined the Ukrainian women’s team and the Iranian men in notching up their first victories of the tournament on another action-packed day at the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup in Pretoria, South Africa. A fiercely contested encounter saw South African firecracker Mustapha Cassiem scoring five goals in his side’s impressive 8-4 victory over the fourth-ranked Czech Republic. “Of course I’m happy to get five on the board but ultimately it’s not about me – that’s our team motto – it’s not about me, it’s about the team. It’s about a nation that’s fighting to get better in the hockey world so we’re really happy to get the three points and really privileged to get on the scoresheet,” said an ecstatic Cassiem after the fiery match. It was an emotional 3-0 victory for the third-ranked Ukrainians over Belgium after the disappointment of a draw in their opening match. “We are really happy because we really expected to win yesterday but it was a draw, so we really gave a lot for this win,” said Ukrainian captain Yevheniia Moroz. It’s been a tough journey for the team to prepare for the tournament in war-torn Ukraine. “We do have training but it’s not like we have it usually because sometimes it’s interrupted by sirens, and we have to go to the basement for as long as we can hear the alarms,” explained Moroz. “So we do have training but not as good as usual. “It’s really tough to be at any kind of tournament because half of our hearts are still at home with our families. We are focused during the match but afterwards we are there at home… When I hear our national anthem, I cannot hold my emotions inside.” Meanwhile, Iran’s men had a battle on their hands against the USA. After Iran raced to a 2-0 lead by the third minute, the Americans slowly worked their way back into the match and managed to level matters at 3-3 towards the end of the first half. But Iranian keeper Sasan Hataminejad produced a spectacular performance to prevent any more goals, saving two strokes and keeping the determined Americans at bay. Having taken off their own keeper in the dying minutes of the match to boost their scoring chances, the USA conceded three quick goals and the ultimate score of 8-3 was far from an accurate reflection of the hard-fought contest, Reza Norouzzadeh completing his hattrick in the process. Speaking about coming back from their shock loss to debutants Argentina on the opening day, Iranian captain Behdad Beiranvand said: “Yesterday was very bad, our tactics and systems were very bad but today was very good and we used our opportunities. “The American team was a very good team but the Iranian team I think were better. I hope in the next games Iran get even better.” During the day, there were second-straight victories for the Czech, Austrian, Dutch and Australian women as well as the Austrian, Dutch, Belgian and Argentinian men. Belgian captain Philippe Simar was once again in prolific form, scoring three more goals against New Zealand to add to his tally of five from the opening day. After conceding in the first minute of the match, New Zealand, back in the World Cup fold after an absence of 20 years, did well to hold back the Belgian onslaught, trailing by just one goal heading into the final period. But then the floodgates opened with the Belgians scoring four more in the final 10 minutes to secure a 7-2 win. “That’s my thing – I have to score goals. I don’t defend very well so that’s my target,” admitted Simar. “I think I am doing it well until now but I think it’s the team that’s defending very, very well so I have the opportunity to score the goals thanks to the team.” Also notching up hattricks on day two of the action were Schut Wiegert in the Netherlands men’s 9-1 win over Kazakhstan and Natalia Novakova in the Czech Republic’s 8-2 victory over the Kazakhstan women. Novakova said: “I’m very happy but it’s all about the team, not the last shooter… Our tournament began really well, and I think now we’re just going up and up and up, but I think we should still run harder and not be lazy.” By the end of the second day of the tournament, the Netherlands and Czech Republic topped the respective women’s pools while the Netherlands and Argentina are top of the two men’s pools. 6 February 2023 Results   Result: Match 7 – men Austria 2 – 0 Namibia Player of the match: Fabian Unterkircher (Austria) Umpires: Adam Barry (AUS), Emily Carroll (AUS)   Result: Match 7 – women  Canada 2 – 2 Namibia Player of the match: Alison Lee (Canada) Umpires: Cathy Wright (WAL), Sean Edwards (ENG)   Result: Match 8 – men Netherlands 9 – 1 Kazakhstan Player of the match: Schut Wiegert (Netherlands) Umpires: Melina Illanes (ARG), Lee Barron (ENG)   Result: Match 8 – women Czech Republic 8 – 2 Kazakhstan Player of the match: Natalie Novakova (Czech Republic) Umpires: Diego Barbas (ARG), Rachel Williams (ENG)   Result: Match 9 – men New Zealand 2 – 7 Belgium Player of the match: Philippe Simar (Belgium) Umpires: Andres Ortiz (ESP), Lukasz Zwierzchowski (POL)   Result: Match 9 – women Ukraine 3 – 0 Belgium Player of the match:  Karyna Leonova Umpires: Cathy Wright (WAL), Sophie Bockelmann (GER)   Result: Match 10 – men Argentina 3 – 1 Australia Player of the match: Juan Eleicegui Umpires: Lee Barron (ENG), Sean Edwards (ENG)   Result: Match 10 – women Austria 2 – 1 USA Player of the match: Fiona Felber Umpires: Lukasz Zwierzchowski (POL), Melina Illanes (ARG)   Result: Match 11 – men Iran 8 – 3 USA Player of the match: Sasan Hataminejad (Iran) Umpires: Diego Barbas (ARG), Celine Martin-Schmets (BEL)   Result: Match 11 – women Netherlands 3 – 1 South Africa Player of the match:

Continue Reading →