Africa-Press – Namibia. NAMIBIA’s national men’s indoor hockey team might have lost their series against South Africa, but they gave a great account of themselves which bodes well for the Indoor World Cup coming up in February.
On Sunday, South Africa won the fourth and final test 6-5 to wrap up the series 2-0 after they won the second test 7-4, while the first and third tests were each drawn 3-3.
Namibia has yet to beat South Africa in an indoor test match, but the gap is closing, while it was certainly an improvement on their performances at the Africa Cup in April, when SA beat them 4-1 in the final and 6-3 and 9-3 in their group matches.
In Sunday’s match, Namibia made a great comeback after trailing 5-2 at half time. Goals by Mustaphaa Cassiem and Justin Domleo gave SA an early 2-0 lead, but JP Britz opened Namibia’s account from a short corner at the end of the first quarter.
In an intense second quarter, two goals in two minutes by the Cassiem brothers Mustaphaa and Dayaan put SA 4-1 ahead, but Brynn Cleak deflected an Ernest Jacobs shot into the net, before a fine shot by Marvin Simons put SA 5-2 ahead at the half time break.
Namibia made a fine comeback in the third quarter, with Dakota Hansen scoring high into the net, before Britz turned on the style with two goals in two minutes to draw the teams level at 5-5.
Mustaphaa Cassiem, however, soon restored SA’s lead, and although Namibia won two short corners in the final quarter they could not capitalise as SA held on for a tense victory. The president of the Namibia Hockey Union, Reagon Graig said he was extremely proud of the team.
“The heart that our boys played with, the passion and the skills they displayed – I’ve never seen such a high level from the Namibian men before, and they were competitive right until the last minute, so I am extremely proud. Our boys represented our country with so much passion and pride and I think we should all be really proud of them,” he said. Graig added that South Africa were still a bit stronger in terms of experience and mental strength.
“Two nights ago we were leading 4-2 and then just let our heads down for two minutes, and it just shows that these South Africans play a lot more games and get a lot more exposure, and through that their mental strength at the moment is maybe something that just edged us. From a skills perspective, from a fitness perspective and from a coaching perspective, they don’t have anything on us, that I can tell you a 110%. So yes, they did beat us in the series, but I think that on another day, with a little bit more experience, Id like to see them try that again,” he said.
“From what I’ve seen here, it gives us an extremely good base to work from for the World Cup – these boys have played at the highest level, and they now know what they need to do. I think after this preparation, there’s only good things to come for us, so I’ve got a lot of faith that they will really represent our country well,” he added. Graig also called on corporates as well as hockey lovers in general to support the team financially.
“We are an amateur sport and we really need the public’s support in terms of finances and funding. You know for us to fly overseas and represent our nation there, there’s the currency exchange rate against us, paying things in Euros, and there’s flight tickets and accommodation, so we’d like to call on any corporates or members of the public to please support us.”
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