New Delhi: It was an uneventful first half between Pakistan and South Africa who began the game very cautious, both with eyes on advancing to finish at-best in 9th place at the 2013 Hero Hockey Junior World Cup. Both teams traded pockets of possession with neither looking too threatening in the circle.
A South African missed assignment in the 8th minute resulted in Muhammed Dilber being left wide open at the far post. Dilber put the fore-hand deflection on target after a hard hit from 45 yards out to lift Pakistan 1-0 entering the break.
South African’s best chance of the half came in the 19th minute when captain Dylan Swanepoel made a key interception off a Pakistan aerial and eventually earned a penalty corner. Matthew Brown’s resulting drag flick was saved by keeper Mazhar Abbas, protecting Pakistan’s one-goal edge at half.
South Africa opened the second frame with a penalty corner but missed the trap completely, allowing Pakistan to regroup. Soon after Ammad Shakeel Butt opened the gap for Pakistan scoring two goals in two minutes. Uhammad Umar Bhutta sent a perfect pass from the right side for Butt to turn and put away on his back hand in the 41st minute. Butt earned his second on a well-executed corner, propelling Pakistan ahead 3-0.
South Africa showed good possession play but continued to be stymied at the edge of the circle by the Pakistan defence. Pakistan’s speed continued to open the game up and a quick passing sequence in the circle allowed Muhammad Irfan to score at the far post for the team’s fourth goal.
With the win Pakistan will move on to face the winner of the Argentina-India game to challenge for ninth, while South Africa will play the loser for 11th.
Anjum Saeed Coach of the Pakistan team said, “I am extremely happy with today’s performance of the team. They really played very well and were in command of the game right from the beginning. We could still have been in the Tournament had we not had problems in our game against Germany earlier. Our key player got a red card in that game which turned out to be very damaging for us. We played two matches without a good player and lost out.”