South Africa concluded the pool stage of their FIH Hockey Women’s World Cup campaign with a 5-1 defeat against China at the Wagener Stadium in Amstelveen on Thursday morning, bringing Pool D to a close for the African side.
Photo – Credit Jan van Zyl
China, unbeaten through their opening two matches, made the ideal start when Zou Meirong opened the scoring in just the fourth minute. The Chinese attacker found the breakthrough from open play to give her side a 1-0 advantage that they carried through the remainder of the opening quarter.
South Africa, however, refused to allow China to pull away and produced their best spell of the opening half during the second quarter.
The reward arrived in the 25th minute. South Africa earned a penalty corner and Paris-Gail Isaacs converted the opportunity to level matters at 1-1, giving the South Africans a deserved route back into the contest.
The response from China was immediate and ultimately decisive. In the same minute, Zhong Jiaqi restored the Chinese advantage from a penalty corner before Yu Anhui (30’) converted another set piece on the stroke of half-time. In the space of five minutes, South Africa had gone from drawing level to heading into the interval 3-1 behind.
South Africa regrouped impressively after the break. The third quarter produced no goals as the defensive unit frustrated a Chinese side that had scored four times against England in their previous outing. At 3-1 heading into the final 15 minutes, South Africa remained within touching distance and continued searching for a way back into the contest.
China struck almost immediately after the restart, however, with Chen Yi scoring from open play to stretch the advantage to 4-1. South Africa continued to compete despite the growing deficit, but the final word belonged to China as Zou Meirong grabbed her second of the game to complete the 5-1 victory.
For South Africa, the result brings a challenging Pool D campaign to an end after matches against England, India and China. There were encouraging passages throughout the opening phase, but the punishment delivered by three quality opponents underlined the fine margins at World Cup level.
China, meanwhile, moved onto seven points from their three matches and secured their progression into the second phase of the World Cup. South Africa will now turn their attention to the 9th–16th classification phase, where the opportunity remains to finish the tournament strongly and continue building against the world’s best.
China 5-1 South Africa
South Africa: Paris-Gail Isaacs (25’, PC)
China: Zou Meirong (4’, 58’), Zhong Jiaqi (25’, PC), Yu Anhui (30’, PC), Chen Yi (46’)
