{"id":5778,"date":"2026-08-23T17:32:43","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:32:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/?p=5778"},"modified":"2026-08-23T17:32:43","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T15:32:43","slug":"sa-fight-back-to-claim-thrilling-world-cup-victory-over-chile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/23\/sa-fight-back-to-claim-thrilling-world-cup-victory-over-chile\/","title":{"rendered":"SA fight back to claim thrilling World Cup victory over Chile"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"s6\"><span class=\"s5\">South Africa produced a determined comeback to defeat Chile 3\u20132 at the Wagener Hockey Stadium, securing their first victory of the 2026 FIH Hockey Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Photo &#8211; FIH World Sport Pics<\/p>\n<p class=\"s6\"><span class=\"s5\">Chile made the brighter start and opened the scoring in the 13th minute when captain Manuela Urroz converted a penalty corner, giving the South Americans a 1\u20130 advantage at the first break.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s6\"><span class=\"s5\">The African champions responded strongly in the second quarter. Captain Edith Molikoe led from the front, finding the equaliser<\/span><span class=\"s5\"> with a brilliant steal and better finish in the middle of the park<\/span> <span class=\"s5\">in <\/span><span class=\"s5\">the 22nd minute to send the teams into half-time level at 1\u20131.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s6\"><span class=\"s5\">South Africa carried that momentum into the second half and moved ahead for the first time in the 35th minute. Ntsopa Mokoena, who had also scored against Japan, converted from a <\/span><span class=\"s5\">close range after a lovely piece of work from Kayla de Waal was denied. Its two in two for Mokoena, but this one was significantly easier than the goal against Japan. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s6\"><span class=\"s5\">The decisive moment arrived three minutes into the final quarter. Caylin Maree finished clinically <\/span><span class=\"s5\">from a brilliant run from de Waal, spooning her finish past the Chilean defence <\/span><span class=\"s5\">to stretch South Africa\u2019s advantage to 3\u20131 and give Inky Zondi\u2019s side some valuable breathing room.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s6\"><span class=\"s5\">Chile refused to surrender and pulled one back through Simone <\/span><span class=\"s5\">Avelli<\/span><span class=\"s5\"> in the 51st minute, setting up a tense finish. South Africa were forced to defend with discipline through the closing stages but held firm to secure a deserved 3\u20132 victory.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s6\"><span class=\"s5\">The result extends South Africa\u2019s unbeaten run in the classification phase following their 1\u20131 draw against Japan and gives the team a significant boost ahead of their final classification encounter.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s6\"><span class=\"s5\">South Africa will likely play in the 13<\/span><span class=\"s7\">th<\/span><span class=\"s5\"> place playoff<\/span><span class=\"s5\">, but will be confirmed after the afternoon results.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"s3\"><span class=\"s4\">Full-time:<\/span><span class=\"s5\"> Chile 2\u20133 South Africa<\/span><span class=\"s5\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">South Africa:<\/span><span class=\"s5\"> Edith Molikoe (22\u2019), Ntsopa Mokoena (35\u2019), Caylin Maree (48\u2019)<\/span><span class=\"s5\"><br \/>\n<\/span><span class=\"s4\">Chile:<\/span><span class=\"s5\"> Manuela Urroz (13\u2019), Simone <\/span><span class=\"s5\">Avelli<\/span><span class=\"s5\"> (51\u2019)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa produced a determined comeback to defeat Chile 3\u20132 at the Wagener Hockey Stadium, securing their first victory of the 2026 FIH Hockey Women\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/23\/sa-fight-back-to-claim-thrilling-world-cup-victory-over-chile\/\" class=\"btn btn-link continue-link\">Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5779,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-5778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hockey","tag-world-cup"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5778"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5780,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5778\/revisions\/5780"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5779"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}