South Africa knock Pakistan out of semifinal contention

NEW DELHI - Four times champions Pakistan\’s semi-final dreams were shattered by minnows South Africa, who staged a sensational second-half rally to shock the Asian giants 4-3 in Pool B and pick up their first points from the Hockey World Cup here Saturday.

Down 0-1 at the breather, the South Africans played a fast game to break their seven-game losing streak in the World Cup competitions since 2002 as a sizeable crowd watched the exciting game at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium.

In a must-win situation to keep alive their slim chances of making it to the last four, Pakistan played dismal hockey barring the first few minutes of the match, to lose to a side which had conceded 22 goals in the first three game, including a 0-12 thrashing against Australia Thursday.

The South Africans had recorded their previous World Cup win against Belgium (5-4) in a classification tie eight years ago and thereafter they were winless in their next ten games.

Pakist\’n\’s experienced drag flicker and wor\’d\’s highest scorer Sohail Abbas was pathetic in taking penalty corners and is likely to be in the line of fire after his si\’e\’s failure to reach the knockout stage in the tournament. The seasoned campaigner managed to put in only one of the penalty corners he took but it was disallowed following a referral as the umpires decreed that the ball had not been properly stopped.

However, Pakistan started off well, building pressure on the South African goal as Rehan Butt drew first blood as early as the fifth minute, beating goalkeeper Erasmus Pieterse.

But the script was turned upside down in the second session as Gareth Carr (penalty corner,38th min), Ian Haley (41st), Taine Paton (46th) and Marvin Harper (54th) found the target for South Africa during a 16-minute bltizkrieg.

Pakistan tried to bounce back but they only managed to narrow the deficit as Muhammad Imran (68th) and Waseem Ahmed (70th) converted two more penalty corners in the dying moments.

South Afri\’a\’s last three goals came from good work upfront after Carr scored the first with a drag flick.

South Africans struck to make it 2-1 as Pakistan goalkeeper Salman Akbar saved a Thornton Macdade attempt but Haley pounced on the rebound and volleyed home.

A little later Patton spectacularly dived full length close to the goal to connect a cross that had come from outside the circle, leaving the Paskistanis completely dumbstruck.

But Pakist\’n\’s miseries were not yet over as Harper slammed in to widen the gulf 4-1.

The writing on the wall was clear, but a desperate Pakistan tried to make a comeback by carrying out a series of attacks but in the end it was too little too late.

Pakistan now have three points from four outings.

\”This is one of our worst performances ever. We were beaten in all the departments. The defence was very weak in the second half. After the first match against India, we were not able to improve. We have to review what has gone wrong here after we go hom\”,\” said a crestfallen Pakistan coach Shahid Ali Khan.

–Indo-Asian News Servive