The SA men’s team gave defending champions Austria an almighty scare in a thrilling FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup Croatia 2025 clash on Tuesday night, before eventually going down 8-6.
The South Africans took the game to their higher ranked opposition from the get-go at Zatika Sports Centre in Porec, showing great tenacity, hustle, speed and skill.
They led 2-1 at the end of the first quarter and 3-2 at half-time.
Skipper Dayaan Cassiem opened the scoring for the BlitzStoks before younger brother Mustapha scored the first of his four goals that propelled him to the top of the scorers’ charts with eight strikes after two games.
The South Africans were 5-4 ahead with seconds left on the clock at the end of the third chukka when the Austrians were awarded a number of successive penalty corners.
The BlitzStoks put up a titanic defensive effort, after some questionable refereeing calls had seen Dayaan Cassiem being shown a yellow card, and other players punished for an early break. But the dam wall eventually burst and it was 5-5 going into the final chukka.
The world’s No 1 team then pulled three goals ahead before one final sprinkling of Mustaphaa magic brought the BlitzStoks back within two, and they were threatening a grandstand finish.
While Austria held on for the 8-6 win, the South Africans pushed right till the end and served notice that they have the potential to be genuine title contenders this time around. The South Africans had reached the quarter-finals as hosts of the last tournament.
“What an incredible game. I must say the boys put in the effort that was needed,” coach Justin Rosenberg told Independent Media Sport exclusively, from Croatia on Tuesday night.
“After (Monday’s) performance, we did start on the right footing. We started off really positive, took the game to the Austrians, played with a lot more bravery and intent, and you could see that in the approach, how we played and what we did: taking the lead, keeping the lead, sustaining it, obviously then going to 5-5.
“At the end of the day, (there were a) couple of bad decisions from the umpires but that’s the nature of the game. We just needed to make sure we played.
“We let ourselves down, let our heads drop a little. We then went from 5-5 to 8-5 and then to finish the game 8-6 is obviously one massive step in the right direction in terms of the team’s belief that we can compete with the No 1 and the defending champions.”
“I’m looking forward to our crunch match on Thursday against Poland, which will determine who finishes second in the pool.”
The top two teams in each of the three pools will advance to the quarter-finals alongside the two best third-placed teams. And if the BlitzStoks can come even close to replicating yesterday’s performance, they will take their place in the next round. If they do, there will be a lot of the big guns looking nervously at the draw.