France registered a narrow 5-4 victory over South Africa and had the honour to become the first team to advance to the quarterfinals of the FIH Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup 2023 at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil this morning.
The French, ranked 7th in the latest FIH World Junior Rankings, defeated the 16th ranked Egypt 3-1 in their opening Pool B match and then caused the biggest upset by securing a 2-0 win over World No 2 Germany.
But it was not easy against South Africa. Although France grasped a 2-0 lead within four minutes of the start of the first quarter, following a quick counter-attack. Jules Verrier pops the ball past goalkeeper Gianluca Virissimo in less than one minute of play,probably one of the fastest scoring times in the history of the event.
Stanislas Branicki extended the lead, latching onto a rebound ball that screamed into the middle of the net. Undeterred by the setback, the South Africans showed quality, grouped together, and mounted pressure on their opponents.
But the excitement on the field began with a galore of goals being scored from end to end. Finally the French went on to extend their domination with a 5-4 score at the end of the first quarter, scoring goals through Gaspard Denis (15th), Mathis Clement (22nd), and Louis Haertelmeyer (27th).
South Africa scored through Han Nethling (14th), Caleb Oliphant (15th), and a brace from Cameron Forestier (21st and 25th).
Guy Elliot, South Africa coach, said:
“Obviously, we had to win by three goals and it wasn’t a great start by us as the defense was shaky and put us bck pedalling. And we knew we had to attack and not sit back. And every time we scored, they replied one back. I think the team was just focused on moving forward rather than understanding they had to defend also.
I think we figured that out in the second half. We still did try to score in one or two chances we had in the then, and France also knew the context of the game, and did not need to put in extra energy to run. So, they spent less time on the ball.”
Matthias Dierckens, France coach, said:
“The first half was crazy. I thought if we kept the same pace in the second half, we would score more goals, but I think both teams tired after the high intensity game in the first half. We have nine points, and we are very happy. Our first objective was to qualify for the quarterfinals and top the group.
South Africa is a very good team. They showed it again today. The quarterfinals are a knockout stage, and it is a different ball game. There is no second chance. Right now, we need to prepare the team more for recovery in the next two days. They are tired, and we need to give players a rest.”
In an earlier match, Germany went on a goal spree against Egypt to register a 10-0 victory, and in the process joined France from Pool B in the quarterfinals at the National Hockey Stadium today.
In the 2021 Bhubaneswar JWC, Germany rattled the Egyptians with an 11-0 win, while in 1989 they won 10-1. Egypt’s best finish in a JWC came in 1997 at Milton Keynes, England, where they were placed ninth.
The six-time JWC champions, ranked World No. 2, shackled the Egyptians by going 6-0 up by the end of the first half through double strikes from Florian Sperling (10th and 25th minutes), and Liam Holdermann (17th and 22nd minutes). Nikas Berendts (14th) and Jakob Brilla (19th) scored one apiece.
Germany amassed six points from two wins and a draw. Coach Eijk van Rein’s team is sitting second in the table standings behind France, who topped the group unbeaten, with nine points.
Rein van Eijk, the Germany coach, said:
“We were not too concerned about the score. Our main focus was to push up the tempo of the match as high as possible. It was only in the last couple of minutes in the first half we were getting lazy in our decision making and defending.
At 8-0 we felt the game was over and the game was open. The Egyptians got some circle penetration and two penalty corners. That’s unfortunate but I can’t blame my team for taking the foot off the gas. We are now focusing on the knockout stage. There are definitely a lot of things we can improve. We are not going to talk of the seventh World Cup. We are looking forward to one game first. We were expecting to play Australia, but it seems we are going to play Argentina in the quarterfinals.”
Moustafa Khalil, Egypt coach, said:
“Today we had one player (Mohamad Hosni) out injured and is in hospital. He is undergoing an MRI on his knee. In total, we had three injured players who were injured and it was difficult to perform against Germany, a highly talented side in the world. Overall, our preparation for this Junior World Cup has not been to level we had wanted. We only played in the African Cup championships in March and at home.
Nevertheless, I believe Egypt played well in earlier matches, and we are happy with our performance.”
