KUALA LUMPUR – South Africa believe that the umpire’s decision to give Germany a penalty corner in the fourth quarter was the turning point that led to their defeat in their opening match at the Men’s Hockey Junior World Cup.
Speaking to Scoop, South Africa head coach Guy Elliott said he was disappointed with the referee’s decision and has advised his charges to not get emotional about it.
“It was very difficult for me to comment on this matter as in my opinion, I believe the penalty corner should not have been given to the Germans.
“However the decision was made after their discussion with the video referral system umpires so we don’t have a choice and we have to accept these decisions whether we like it or not.
“I don’t want to blame anyone as it’s part of the sport and we are not going to feel sorry for ourselves. Sometimes we have to move on as there will always be ‘contagious’ decisions by referees,” said Guy.
Guy also commended his team’s energetic performance and hoped they would showcase a winning performance in the next match.
“We always knew that there would be a lot of challenges going against such a formidable side as Germany has a perfect set of players.
“My boys still played well and we gave them a good fight and ended up scoring three goals; we hope to use this defeat as an experience and go all out in our next group match,” Guy added.
Germany defeated South Africa 5-3 in the opening game at the National Hockey Stadium in Bukit Jalil today.
In the Group B encounter, Germany took an early lead through Paul Glander’s penalty corner in the fifth minute.
Germany’s other four goals were scored by Florian Sperling (10th minute), Liam Holdermann (24th), Matteo Poljaric (41st) and Ben Hasbach (59th).
South Africa’s goals were scored by David Tshebi (24th), Jaydon Brooker (39th) and Hans Neethling (53rd).
South Africa will take on their African rivals Egypt in their second group match tomorrow. – December 5,2023