South Africa ease past Pakistan in FIH Nations Cup
The home side dominated proceedings throughout the match
POTCHEFSTROOM: South Africa comprehensively defeated Pakistan 6-2 in the ongoing FIH Nations Cup.
The home side dominated proceedings throughout the match, which resulted in victory by a big margin.
Tyson Dlungwana gave the home side the lead in the eight minute of the match but that was cancelled out by Pakistan’s Rooman five minutes later.
In the second quarter, Mustaphaa Cassiem and Samkelo Mvimbi scored two goals in the space of couple of minutes to put South Africa in the driving seat.
Tevin Kok scored South Africa’s fourth goal in the 40th minute with the home side maintaining their three-goal lead till the end of the third quarter.
In the final quarter, Dayaan Cassiem scored South Africa’s fifth goal in the 45th minute. However, Pakistan’s Arshad Liaquat scored five minutes later to reduce the deficit.
Although, Keenan Horne scored South Africa’s sixth goal and restored his side’s lead in the 56th minute of the match.
Pakistan’s next match is on November 29 against Ireland, meanwhile their last pool game is against France on December 1.
Importance of FIH Nations Cup
The FIH Nations Cup offers top-level competition to the best-ranked teams not participating in the FIH Hockey Pro League and gives the winning team the option to be promoted to the FIH Hockey Pro League next season. Therefore, the FIH Hockey Nations Cup marks the start of the promotion-relegation principle for the FIH Hockey Pro League, with the winning team of the first FIH Hockey Nations Cup having the chance to be promoted to the 2023-24 FIH Hockey Pro League.
The FIH Pro League champions in 2023-24 and 2024-25 will earn direct qualification to their respective 2026 Hockey World Cups. The winners in 2025-26 and 2026-27 will then qualify for the 2028 Olympics.
The FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup is taking place at the North-West University of Potchefstroom, South Africa, from 28 November to 4 December 2022.
Pakistan are placed in Pool A alongside France, Ireland and hosts South Africa. Meanwhile, Canada, Japan, Korea and Malaysia are part of Pool B.
Top two teams from each pool will qualify for the semi-finals of the event.
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