08-03-2010 SA Men miss their chance
New Delhi, India
Day: 16
Monday, 8 March 2010
(Game 5, 20:30 GMT +5:30)
South Africa vs. India
Well I think my headline says it all really, chance missed. Today we had the opportunity to achieve something special for SA Hockey. Australia?s win over Pakistan in the match before ours meant a win would have put us in fourth place in our pool, and a playoff match for 7 th and 8 th. A win would have also sent us leaping up the world rankings table and made our case for going to the Common Wealth Games in October unstoppable. |
16 000 supporters cheering for their home team to beat us.
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Our performance in the second half was not good enough today. We had a good game plan, but far too often we did things off the cuff. That resulted in a high number of turnovers, allowing India to attack again and again. If one area of our game has been exposed at this tournament it has been our ability to stay focused for the full 70 minutes. I have said it before; goals can be scored in mere seconds. With the umpires encouraging more flow in the game and with the addition of the new self pass rule the pace has increased dramatically. It means that every player has to be ?in the zone? for every single moment of the game.
I think we can count ourselves lucky not to lose the game when we look back and see how much of the possession India had, and the chances they created. Hats off to our defensive unit for keeping India to just one goal in the second half.
Today?s match, like many others at the tournament was full of turning points, many of which revolved around the video referral system. The major discussion point at the after match press conference was our decision to refer the Indian?s ?third? goal. We appealed that the ball had struck an Indian players body in their defensive circle, which should have resulted in a penalty corner being awarded to us. It wasn?t however until after India had scored at the other end that umpires would listen to my appeal. As the system is still being trialled, it isn?t perfect. I think, and most would agree that we all want the correct decision to be made. If we can use technology to help achieve that goal (within a reasonable time frame) then the more the better I say.
A small cancellation for myself, being named Hero Honda Man of the Match.
Final Score 3-3 (draw)
We now have three days off until we face New Zealand or Argentina for 9 th/10 th place on Friday.
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Pool B standings after day 9 of the tournament
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