SA finally overcome stubborn England
11th hour in the week leading up to World Cup 2014 in the place of the unfortunate double Olympian South African defender Lenise Marais, whose serious leg injury made participation impossible, was in top form in the unfamiliar position of right half and her experience of scoring a scarcely believable 280 goals in 284 test matches undoubtedly rubbed off on her younger teammates in the England defeat.
But, as celebrated captain Marsha Cox said afterwards, what’s done is done and it’s time for world No 11 SA to focus on world No 7 China in today’s 5.30pm bust-up that’s live on SuperSport.
Giles Bonnet and his coaching staff are meticulous planners and, as with England, they will have come up with a plan to outwit the technically superb yet somewhat robotic Chinese, whose captain Jiao-Jiao De is their lynchpin.
SA are now in with a chance of finishing third in Group B and with it the chance to finish fifth for the first time in the country’s history.
Meanwhile, the world’s 12thranked SA men, who were outstanding yet desperately unlucky not to beat world No 7 South Korea in Friday’s exciting but goalless draw, face another massive challenge when they tackle world No 3 and host nation Holland at 7.45pm in the seething cauldron of a rocking, chanting, singing capacity crowd dressed in orange at the superb Kyocera Stadium.
This match promises to test whether captain Austin Smith’s lads can build momentum and consistency on the toughest stage of all.
And exactly the same principles apply to the SA women. IT WAS a wow moment for dynamic South African striker Sulette Damons when her 150th cap came alongside South Africa’s first defeat of world No 3 England at one of hockey’s Majors.
The Graaff-Reinet-born Damons, whose SA junior sprinting promise has been transferred to the Astro with such success, honed her speed chasing Tommy Lee, the family dog, around the house and made up for her hamstring-enforced absence from the opening two World Cup games with a searing performance that included the most stunning of goals in SA’s runaway 4-1 victory on Friday.
SA’s win saw superb strikes from Kath Taylor, the fleet-footed Damons, Shelley Russell and Dirkie Chamberlain — and was built around the ultimate team performance where every player pulled their weight.
The magnitude of the victory left the hapless English huddled in the dugout in tears afterwards.
SA’s world-record goalscorer and talismanic striker Pietie Coetzee, 35, who came in at the
SA men unlucky not to beat world No 7 South Korea on Friday