{"id":5788,"date":"2026-08-28T17:43:34","date_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:43:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/?p=5788"},"modified":"2026-08-28T17:43:34","modified_gmt":"2026-08-28T15:43:34","slug":"shootout-heartbreak-as-sa-finish-world-cup-campaign-in-12th","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/28\/shootout-heartbreak-as-sa-finish-world-cup-campaign-in-12th\/","title":{"rendered":"Shootout heartbreak as SA finish World Cup campaign in 12th"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s FIH Hockey Men\u2019s World Cup campaign ended in dramatic fashion as Pakistan claimed an enthralling 4\u20133 shootout victory after the sides had played out a pulsating 4\u20134 draw in the playoff for 11th place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photos – Jan van Zyl<\/em><\/p>\n

Playing on Nic Spooner\u2019s birthday, South Africa made the perfect start and opened the scoring in the eighth minute. Trevor de Lora found the breakthrough with a well-take<\/span>n strike after Mustapha Cassiem\u2019s penalty corner was charged down. The strike had incredible power on it and was a deserved lead for the South Africans. <\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa <\/span>doubled the advantage three minutes into the second quarter<\/span>. Dayaan Cassiem picked up the ball in the circle and with limited space showed an ingenious finish to lift it past the shoulder of the keeper into the back of the net. <\/span><\/p>\n

Pakistan responded strongly, however, striking twice through Afraz and Mohammad Ammad to erase South Africa\u2019s advantage and send the teams into half-time level at 2\u20132.<\/span><\/p>\n

The momentum remained with Pakistan after the restart as Rana Waheed Ashraf scored in the 32nd minute to complete the turnaround and give his side a 3\u20132 lead.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa refused to allow the contest to slip away. Mustapha Cassiem restored parity in the 40th minute<\/span> with his 7<\/span>th<\/span> goal of the tournament, a powerful drag flick through the keeper<\/span>, ensuring the teams entered the final quarter locked together at 3\u20133.<\/span><\/p>\n

With five minutes remaining, Cassiem delivered again. South Africa\u2019s leading World Cup goalscorer converted a penalty <\/span>stroke<\/span> to complete his brace and put his side within touching distance of an 11th-place finish.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pakistan summoned one final response and equalised through Muhammad <\/span>Hammaduddin<\/span> in the 60th minute, forcing the contest into a shootout.<\/span><\/p>\n

Dayaan<\/span> Cassiem and Calvin Davis converted South Africa\u2019s opening two attempts, but misses from Hans Neethling and Jamie Seale allowed Pakistan to gain the advantage.<\/span><\/p>\n

South Africa remained alive when<\/span> Mustapha<\/span> Cassiem converted after Rana Waheed Ashraf had missed the opportunity to seal the result. Ammad Butt, however, held his nerve with Pakistan\u2019s final attempt to secure a 4\u20133 shootout victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was a heartbreaking conclusion to an entertaining encounter and to a campaign in which South Africa once again showed their ability to compete with some of the world\u2019s best. They end the 2026 FIH Hockey Men\u2019s World Cup in 12th place.<\/span><\/p>\n

Full-time:<\/span> Pakistan 4\u20134 South Africa<\/span>
\n<\/span>Shootout:<\/span> Pakistan 4\u20133 South Africa<\/span>
\n<\/span>South Africa:<\/span> Trevor de Lora (8\u2019), Dayaan Cassiem (18\u2019), Mustapha Cassiem (40\u2019, 55\u2019)<\/span>
\n<\/span>Pakistan:<\/span> Afraz, Mohammad Ammad, Rana Waheed Ashraf (32\u2019), Muhammad <\/span>Hammaduddin<\/span> (60\u2019)<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

South Africa\u2019s FIH Hockey Men\u2019s World Cup campaign ended in dramatic fashion as Pakistan claimed an enthralling 4\u20133 shootout victory after the sides had played Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5789,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[45],"class_list":["post-5788","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\/5788","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=5788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5790,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5788\/revisions\/5790"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5789"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.runridedive.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}