FRANCE waltzed to a 2-0 victory over six-time champions Germany and virtually booked a quarterfinals berth of the 13th Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup at the National Stadium in Bukit Jalil this evening.
The French lead the Group B table standings with six points following two consecutive wins. Les Bleus had, on the opening day on Tuesday, defeated the Egyptians 3-1.
Germany and South Africa, however, share three equal points from two matches. The Germans need to win big over Egypt in their last Pool match on Friday to enhance their chances, while the South Africans are also in the same position – a must-win over the French.
All three teams still have a mathematical chance of qualifying for the semifinals of the JWC subject to the ifs and buts.
Forward Jules Verrier landed a brace, clamping the Germans with a 10th-minute field goal and extended the lead 30 minutes later via a penalty stroke.
The French team contains eight players who were part of the bronze medal-winning campaign in 2021, including Mathis Clément, Noé Jouin, Gaspard Xavier, and Brieuc Delemazure, who all represented France seniors at the EuroHockey Championship 2023 in Mönchengladbach, Germany.
Meanwhile, South Africa edged perennial rivals Egypt 3-2 to stay in the chase for a quarterfinal spot too in an earlier Group B match.
Following a best-ever JWC placement of ninth position at the 2021 competition in Bhubaneswar, India, the South Africans scored through Cameron le Forestier’s penalty corner conversion (11th minute), Calvin Davis (14th), and Jaydon Brooker (26th), while Hossameldin Ragab replied with a brace in the 22nd and 38th minutes.
In March, the team claimed the Junior Africa Cup title for the fifth time in the last six editions, leaving Egypt once again for the silver medal.
South Africa recently competed on Malaysian turf in the Sultan of Johor Cup, finishing bottom of the standings in the eight-team competition. South Africa are placed third in the table standings behind Germany and France. All three teams share three equal points.
Matthis Dierckens, the France coach, said: “I think we made history by defeating Germany. But now we are more focused on South Africa. They can be an extremely difficult team. And we want to win that game to advance to the quarterfinals and finish top of our group.
We don’t have any secrets in this win. The first game we played against Egypt, I was not pleased with the way we played. We were a bit slow and did not have the right attitude on the field. We created many opportunities to score, and we only won 3-1. I think we should have won like 6-1 or 7-1. We were a bit frustrated by that.”
Eijk van Rein, the Germany coach, said: “We don’t have to blame the weather (rain). Today’s performance wasn’t up to standard. It had everything to do with us and also with the French, who played very well. They defended very well. We had some troubles getting past them.
The weather (rain) had nothing to do with that. We are still trying to adjust to the tournament. Today’s defeat against France is a wake-up call. We learned a couple of things from that. I think our tempo needs to be higher. There are going to be more teams defending very deep against us in general.”
Guy Elliot, the South Africa coach, said: “Every time we play Egypt, it becomes a very tough match. It’s like a local football derby. It is emotionally charged. We had enough chances to actually allow us to settle the game with a win the game but credit must be given to them because they fought very hard very hard.
I think the rain had probably helped us. It gave us time to consolidate and plan our strategy. South Africa has never been in the top 8 in the Under-21 tournaments. We have a good chance of improving our performance and hoping for the best against France in our next match.
Moustafa Khalil, the Egypt coach, said: “We don’t play in this kind of weather in Egypt. The rain was heavy, and there was too much water. The weather created some problems for both teams. We were unlucky as our players had trouble adjusting to the heavy rain. We wasted our chances in the last about six minutes of the match to salvage a point.
“Our team trained for only one week in Egypt. We don’t have the kind of money that South Africa has to travel for exposure. Maybe in the future, we can build stronger teams with stronger financing.”
RESULTS: France 2, Germany 0; South Africa 3, Egypt 2.”