South Africa’s hockey men finished their FIH Nations Cup campaign in seventh position after losing 2-1 to Japan in Kuala Lumpur. South Africa will now turn their attention to the African Cup of Nations in October in a bid to qualify for the FIH Hockey World Cup.
The Proteas, who struggled at the set piece in the tournament, took the lead early on through a Calvin Davis penalty corner fired into the bottom left corner. South Africa were controlling possession but Japanese were the team creating chances on a regular basis.
The game was tense as both teams were desperate to avoid relegation. South Africa continued to dictate the play but they were unable to make the chances count but had answered the first half defensive questions to lead by 1-0.
A problem that had plagued the South Africa throughout the tournament came back to bite again as despite the possession advantage and control outside the circle, the Japanese pulled level with a bullet of a strike.
It got worse just before the end of the third quarter when space in the circle gave Japan the chance to go ahead and they made no mistake, leading 2-1.
South Africa produced a grandstand effort to try and level and won a succession of late penalty corners. The best was saved on the line from Tanaka as Japan maintained their status in the FIH Nations Cup.
Words and image supplied by SA Hockey
