AHF: South Africa Stuns France in Thrilling Hockey Showdown

Despite both teams being eliminated from the Paris Olympics ahead of their meeting, there was no shortage of noise and excitement in the build-up as South Africa and France locked horns at Stade Yves-du-Manoir on Friday evening.

South Africa settled first and were rewarded with an early penalty corner. Matt Guise-Brown finished it superbly into the bottom left corner and the South Africans led 1-0. South Africa produced again before long but Tevin Kok’s leading run and deflection was wide. The French crowd were doing everything they could to impact the game, cheering on every half-chance massively. The South Africans were dialed in well in the opening quarter though and created a brilliant opening just before the hooter, but the shot was over the top of the goal and it was 1-0 at the break.

The French leveled with a goal out of almost nothing. An overhead was lifted into the circle, the ball across lacked venom, but Timothee Clement did brilliantly to divert it past Gowan Jones. France was starting to show poor discipline and were collecting a couple of cards as a result. South Africa re-established the lead with a brilliant finish from Keenan Horne after great work by Bili Ntuli on the baseline to fire in the cross. But the lead didn’t last long. France was gifted a penalty corner and Victor Charlet made no mistake to restore parity.

France took advantage of an error in the South African defense to create a shot at goal but Gowan Jones was able to keep it out. And despite the rising tension in Paris, the score remained deadlocked at 2-2 at the half-time break.

The second half started with the same tension the first had finished with, further cementing the desires of both teams to get the win. Jacque van Tonder was given a yellow card as South Africa would need to play out five minutes with a player short. They did that without any problem, returned to a full complement, and immediately were awarded a penalty corner that was very close to being a penalty stroke. The injection wasn’t quite right and South Africa lost their referral in the resultant shot. Three-quarters complete, the scoreline remained 2-2.

South Africa had a surprise lead early in the final quarter when Dayaan Cassiem crossed the ball into the circle and it was deflected home by the defender. The goal was disallowed though, as on referral it was ruled to have not gone five meters before entering the circle. South Africa countered again but couldn’t find the telling touch to get it in. Seven minutes remained.

South Africa won a penalty corner and the quick-thinking Mustapha Cassiem threw in a variation with a slap finish that caught a deflection and went in. France pulled their keeper to try and go for the result, but the South Africans punished them when Dayaan Cassiem pulled into the circle and fired home to make it 4-2. It probably should have been five, but Ntuli fired wide. And it was five shortly afterward as Dayaan Cassiem punished in the way he knows how.

A massive victory for the South African men against the French in front of a packed home crowd will live long in the memory, serving as a further reminder of the quality this team possesses.

Source: sahockey.co.za | August 2, 2024