In today's morning session, the USA became leaders of Pool I with a win over Russia, while Belgium defeated England. In the afternoon session, the matches between Egypt and South Africa as well as Korea and New Zealand both ended in draws. Poland defeated the Malaysian home team.
USA defeat Russia 4:3 (3:1)
Through a 4:3-victory over Russia the USA became leaders of Pool I today. Both teams had lost all games in the preliminary round but today got the chance to achieve their first points in the Pool for the final rankings 17 to 20.
Supported by a vocal group of fans, the USA got the better start into the 8.00 o'clock game but failed to take the lead. Instead, it was Russia who were able to convert their second penalty corner, when team captain Alexey Mayorov scored after then minutes. The US team started to attack more fiercely and pressed for the equalizer, eventually scored by Derk Pelle from a rebound.
The USA then took the lead as well with a nice goal from Viren Padhier who won possession in midfield, made a long run for the goal and defeated Russia's goalkeeper Andrey Ivanov. The Russian defense entered the blame game over the second goal and was still busy with that when the USA immediately won another penalty corner and succeeded again. Russia thus went into halftime 1:3 down.
After another halftime talk at maximum volume, Russia started very aggressive into the second half and gained three short corners in just a few minutes, but all of them were well saved by the US defense.
The Russians continued to attack and were successful in minute 43 through Nikolay Komarov, turning the score to 3:2. As Russia was pushing for the equalizer however, Viren Padhiar appeared out of the blue in the Russian circle and increased the lead for the US.
At this point, Russia seemed extremely frustrated and wasted another string of penalty corners. Overall, Russia definitely had the chance to tie or even win the game but they were too ineffective in converting their opportunities. A late strike by Nikolay Yankun for the 4:3 was too little too late, as the USA concentrated all efforts on defending their lead for the last minutes of the game and maintained the scoreline until the final whistle.
Belgium defeat England 2:0 (2:0)
In the European clash in pool G, Belgium took on England this morning. While Belgium had unluckily missed out on the medal round pool with 3 wins and one defeat from 4 games, England had had a disappointing preliminary round with only four points from four matches, finishing fourth in their pool. Both teams thus enter the second phase of the tournament full of ambition - either to salvage what can be salvaged and demonstrate that it really was only hard luck or to redeem themselves.
Belgium were quicker of the block and applied early pressure, dominating the bigger part of first half and scoring two goals as Tom Boon netted an early penalty corner and Amaury Keusters added a second goal from open play ten minutes later. After the second goal, the match settled into a seesaw rhythm, going back and forth fast with opportunities for both teams.
As time passed, England starting finding their rhythm better and better however and in the second half slowly emerged as the stronger side, pushing the game back into the Belgian half for long stretches of time and creating a good number of scoring opportunities.
It seemed like their time had come when Simon Gougnard was sent off with a yellow card but the advantage in numbers lasted only for a little over a minute, until Chris Gregg collected a ticket to the sin bin as well, making it a ten-a-side. Belgium played a smart game in the end phase of the match, defending their lead well with good positioning and excellent team work, and welcomed the final whistle cnverting their pair of first half goals into three points and a big step towards the 9 to 12 play-offs.
Egypt draw South Africa 2:2
The afternoon session in Johor Bahru started with the clash of long time continental rivals Egypt and South Africa.
South Africa, traditionally the stronger of the two teams in most cases, also had a slight edge on the field and went ahead midway through the first half as Antony Vervoort sank a penalty corner. They piled on a second a little more than ten minutes into the second half, and everyone thought this was more or less the end of that story.
Not so the Egyptians - fighting back with all they had, they got within one step of the opposition when Ahmed Abedelhakeem netted a goal from open play, and kept attacking even if without much success.
It still looked like the match was in the bag for South Africa as they stonewalled the Egyptian efforts but finally, a reward for their unwavering faith, Egypt won a short corner just before the final whistle, and taken after regulation time ended, they coverted it for the equalizer: Egypt and South Africa thus split the points in their first pool H encounter.
Korea draw New Zealand 3:3 (1:2)
In the meeting between New Zealand and Korea, the Blacksticks played aggressively forward from the beginning, steering the game for uch of the first half.
A goal from Simon Child, followed by a top-up from Stephen Jenness, got the Kiwis two goals ahead, but the second goal also startled awake the lethargic Koreans, who suddenly shifted gears and won a string of penalty corners before the break, one of which yielded their first goal to stay within reach of the New Zealanders.
The Koreans were on the way up but suddenly found their flow broken by the halftime break, and after the re-start of the match, it was open battle between two equal teams. With fifteen minutes to go, Korea manage to sneak in the equalizer, and New Zealand were hit again a minute later when captain and star player Simon Child was yellow-carded.
Nonetheless it was New Zealand who were more aggressive and had more promising opportunities in the first minute or two of being a player down, until Korea were awarded a penalty stroke when one of their players on a solo counter-attack was felled in the circle by a defender. Korea's Yun Sang Jeong converted coolly, and New Zealand was now down to nine, as the perpetrator was sinbinned as well.
Less than a minute after the stroke, Simon Child returned, to make it ten Kiwis on the pitch, and within seconds, his team won a penalty corner, that Joseph Bartholomew flicked high for the equalizer. The remaining few minutes were a high energy back and forth, both teams pushing for the elusive winning goal but to no avail.
Poland defeat Malaysia 2:1 (1:1)
In the home team's match of the day, a match of pool H in which Egypt and South Africa had tied earlier, Malaysia faced Poland who had previously only won their encounter with Singapore.
In a hard-fought match between equal opponents, both teams had a handful of opportunities but couldn't convert until late in the first half. Poland scored first but was reigned in by Malaysia within 5 minutes as the ever reliable Faizal Saari netted the equalizer.
The match was locked down for much of the second half, with both teams unable to gain any significant advantage, but eventually, Szymon Oszyjczyk got through on a rare quick break and scored the winning goal for Poland with only minutes to go. Malaysia threw everything they had forward in the last few minutes in a desperate attempt to salvage a point but to no avail, Poland remained victorious today.
USA - Russia 4:3 (3:1)
RUS - Alexey MAYOROV PC 10m
USA - Derk PELLE FG 18m
USA - Viren PADHIAR FG 24m
USA - Jon GINOLFI PC 26m
RUS - Nikolay KOMAROV FG 43m
USA - Viren PADHIAR FG 52m
RUS - Nikolay YANKUN FG 63m
Belgium - England 2:0 (2:0)
BEL - Tom BOON PC 13m
BEL - Amaury KEUSTERS FG 22m
Egypt - South Africa 2:2 (0:1)
RSA - Antony VERVOORT PC 21m
RSA - Brandon PANTHER FG 47m
EGY - Ahmed ABDELHAKEEM FG 52m
EGY - Mohamed EDRIS PC 70m
Korea - New Zealand 3:3 (1:2)
NZL - Simon CHILD FG 19m
NZL - Stephen JENNESS FG 25m
KOR - Yun Sang JEONG PC 28m
KOR - Moon Kweon KANG FG 56m
KOR - Yun Sang JEONG PS 63m
NZL - Joseph BARTHOLOMEW PC 66m
Malaysia - Poland 1:2 (1:1)
POL - Piotr BANIEWICZ FG 28m
MAS - Faizal SAARI FG 33m
POL - Szymon OSZYJCZYK FG 65m
(source: worldhockey.org)
