Pretoria, Tshwane, South Africa: The SPAR South African women’s team produced arguably the most memorable victory in their history when they shaded Belgium in the quarterfinals of the sixth FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup, presented by SPAR, at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria on Friday.
In a nerve-shredding finish in front of 3 000 delirious fans, Jess O’Connor’s team withstood a relentless late surge from the Belgians to win 2-1, achieving their best-ever performance on the global stage in reaching the semi-finals.
Afterwards the South African captain, who scored their first goal, was ecstatic with the performance and praised her teammates for their resilience under extreme pressure. “We knew we just had to maintain our focus, to keep shuffling in defence and to stay tight in the middle,” she said as Belgian frantically pressed for the equaliser in the closing minutes. “We did concede two penalty corners, but it took big match temperament to keep them out and we had that today. “This result is just unbelievable for South Africa (ranked 14th in the world) and unbelievable for the team. I’m so proud of their efforts and this is our best performance by a country mile.”
With Tegan Fourie scoring South Africa’s second goal, the host nation finally hit their straps after a frustrating week to record their third win in row.
It was the perfect moment to fire on all cylinders, O’Connor said afterwards. “We have been training really hard on our connections leading up to this and in other matches we almost haven’t been allowed to play our game,” she said. “I don’t know if we were playing with fear or what was happening, but we hadn’t been connecting. Every team talk we spoke about being fearless and we finally were able to fire this time. “We found our connections; we kept our composure and we just kept moving the ball until we found the spaces we needed.”
The South African men’s team, powered by Tops at SPAR, were not able to make it a double, trailing 5-0 at halftime to the formidable Netherlands outfit and eventually losing 6-3.
Trailing in the fourth quarter, captain Jethro Eustice said they decided to go for broke when they substituted their goalkeeper. “It was nice to get three goals and we gave it our all, but a quality side like the Netherlands are always going to find a moment to change the game and they got a penalty corner, which made 6-3 and too far to catch,” he said. “But it was a good fight from the guys, our first time in a World Cup quarterfinal and the first-time playing Netherlands in a playoff, so we are happy with what we have achieved this week.”
In other women’s quarterfinals, the Czech Republic beat Australia 6-0 and Austria overcame Ukraine.
In men’s action, Austria and Iran qualified for the semi-finals. Austria defeated Argentina 2-0 and Iran shaded Belgium 6-5 in a penalty shootout after the score was 5-5 at the end of regulation time.
They were joined by the United States, who held off a brave Namibian effort to win 3-2.
Ends.
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Tegan Fourie 6- Robyn Johnson congratulates her SPAR South African teammate Teagan Fourie after Fourie scored against Belgium in the quarter finals of the 2023 FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup presented by SPAR at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria, South Africa on Friday. South Africa beat Belgium 2-1 to qualify for Saturday’s semi-finals where they will face Netherlands the tournament favourites.
Jess O’Connor 3- Jess O’Connor the SPAR South African captain scores a penalty corner during her team’s 2-1 quarter final victory against Belgium at the 2023 FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup presented by SPAR at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria, South Africa on Friday.
BR9T4426- Nkosi the tournament mascot acknowledges the ecstatic crowd during the South Africa vs Belgium quarter finals at the 2023 FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup presented by SPAR at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria, South Africa on Friday. South Africa beat Belgium 2-1 to qualify for Saturday’s semi-finals vs Netherlands the tournament favourites.
BR9T5103- The South African men’s team powered by Tops at SPAR acknowledge the fans after losing 3-6 to the Netherlands in Friday’s quarterfinals of the 2023 FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup presented by SPAR at the Heartfelt Arena in Pretoria, South Africa.
Phot Credit: Reg Caldecott
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