India vs South Africa Highlights Hockey World Cup 2023: IND beat SA 5-2, seal ninth place finish

There were no goals in the second quarter and almost the entire third but then both sides scored five. In the end, India have ensured a ninth-placed finish in this tournament, tied with Argentina. 

60 mins: A penalty stroke for South Africa after Sreejesh collides with Ryan. Casiem Mustappha takes it and puts it past Sreejesh. This should be the final scorecard now. 

59 mins: Sukhjeet scores India’s fifth. Akashdeep takes the ball inside the circle, takes a reverse stick shot but it is blocked by the South African keeper. The ball rolls into empty space and Sukhjeet comes charging in and dives to push it into goal. 

India break and Varun Kumar charges into the South African D, his shot, however, goes awry.

49 mins: An aerial pass right after the restart as the Indian defence goes to sleep a bit. Samkelo collects and finds the back of the net with a shot from the right. 

49 mins: Jarmanpreet plays it square from the right on the touchline, Akashdeep deflects it into the goal. 

A penalty corner awarded to India but South Africa succesfully review against it. A free out it turned out to be. 

South Africa have certainly put up a good show, taking up a big part of the possession in the third quarter but they haven’t really challenged the Indian keeper. 

45 mins: Just 30 seconds remaining in the quarter and Shamsher Singh gets India’s third. An aerial pass into the the Indian half where Abhishek is the only man there. He goes forward, finds Shamsher in the D and he puts it past the South African goalkeeper 

South Africa begin to make a circle entry but a brilliant interception from Neelam stops their move and begins India’s counter. It is stopped at the edge of the South African circle. 

Abhishek makes a circle penetration but his square pass is intercepted. India otherwise seem to be happy to let South Africa keep the ball and attack on the counter. 

33 mins: Amit Rohidas has to sit out for five minutes after the video umpire decided that there was careless in the way he threw his gear after a penalty corner was saved and that hit a South African player. SA get another penalty corner and that is dealt with by India. 

Right then, India start things off. They are attacking from left to right now. 

No goals in the second quarter for India, they would be disappointed with their PC misses in this period. South Africa, on the other hand, have been a much improved side in the second quarter.

Abhishek with two shots in the circle, both of which are blocked. It comes to Jarmanpreet who is closer to goal but his shot goes the left of the target. He runs back with a rueful smile on his face. That should have been 3-0. 

25 mins: India succesfully review to get a PC in their favour. However, Varun Kumar’s flick is deflected away by a South African defender. 

South Africa have been far better in the second quarter with India struggling to keep the ball for the first six minutes of it. However, India get a penalty corner in the 22nd minute and this time, Harmanpreet is unable to convert. 

South Africa got probably their best chance to score just after they went 2-0 down but Pathak managed to smother the final shot. It has been all India really in this first quarter and they would hope that they don’t let it slip from here. 

12 mins: Harmanpreet puts everything he has got and the hosts double their lead. The shot was low and to the right of goal.   

11 mins: Shamsher will be taking care of the injection, Harmanpreet, of course, is among those waiting for the drag flick. 

South Africa managed to make a circle penetration in the eighth minute but the Krishan Pathak dealt with the danger easily. Apart from that, all the major inroads have been made by the Indians. They would want to score at least one more before the end of this quarter. 

4 mins: Abhishek collects a pass that was drilled into the South African circle and smashes it into the bottom left from the edge of the area. This goal was coming, India have put all the pressure in these opening minutes. 

South Africa’s Nicholas Spooner has got a green card and so he sits out for a couple of minutes. All the pressure from India so far. 

South Africa starts off the match at the Birsa Munda Stadium. India make an early entry into the South African circle but Spooner wins it back to snuff out the danger. 

The South African national anthem comes first and then India’s national anthem is sung by the stadium. 

This is the last game of the tournament for India and so the crowd has turned up in numbers. 

Dayaan Cassiem (C), Gowan Jones (GK), Nduduzo Lembethe, Keenan Horne, Tevin Kok, Jethro Eustice, Guy Morgan, Nicholas Spooner, Samkelo Mvimbi, Ryan Julius, Connor Beauchamp

Harmanpreet Singh (C), Krishan Pathak (GK), Surender Kumar, Manpreet Singh, Mandeep Singh, Shamsher Singh, Varun Kumar, Raj Kumar Pal, Amit Rohidas, Vivek Sagar Prasad, Sukhjeet Singh

India had a pretty comfortable lead against New Zealand before the latter scored two goals and equalised seemingly out of nowhere. It was India’s defensive frailties in midfield and the back line that was on display and the same could be seen in the opening 30 minutes against Japan as well. 

The head to head record maybe one-sided but the last game between these two sides was anything but that. India beat a spirited South Africa 3-2 in the men’s hockey semi-finals of the Commonwealth Games.

There have been 16 matches between these two teams. India have won 11 of those while South Africa have won once. 

India were flawless in their 8-0 drubbing of Japan and they may do something similar today but there won’t be too many smiles on the players’ faces even after that. Their real aim would have been to be playing in the semi-finals and possibly better instead of fighting for finishing a lowly ninth place. But, it is what it is, and it will all only get worse for them if they don’t put their best foot forward today. Considering just how good they looked against Japan, it will be a shocker indeed if India don’t win this by a good margin.