FIH Men’s Series Finals Kicks Off At Kalinga Stadium, USA Defeat SA In First Match

Bhubaneswar: The FIH Men’s Series Finals Bhubaneswar Odisha 2019 kicked off at the Kalinga Stadium on Thursday with a match between USA and South Africa that the USA won, registering its first three points of the tournament.

The series is the second of six FIH Series Finals.

The USA-South Africa game was a great start to the event – a really entertaining game. Just three minutes into the game, South Africa’s Richard Pautz missed a big opportunity to score, just metres from the goal, says a press release from the sports department.

Gradually, in the first quarter, the African champions put pressure on the USA side, which was defending well and playing counter-attacks.

The game’s pattern changed during the second quarter when the American side began attacking. After a great save from goalkeeper Rassie Pietersee following a shot from Deegan Huisman, it was South Africa that had a huge opportunity with Nicolas Spooner’s attempt hitting the goalpost.

This boosted South African players who created multiple chances, through Nqobile Ntuli in particular as well as a series of consecutive penalty corners, which they could not convert into a goal. The USA were struggling in the second part of that quarter. Additionally, they had the misfortune of losing their captain Ajai Dhadwal to injury.

The second half started similarly but USA goalkeeper Jonathan Klages – later nominated Man of the Match – brilliantly kept his team in the game with three consecutive saves from as many penalty corners.

USA’s Christian De Angelis scored early in the final quarter, following a penalty corner. From then on, the Americans made every effort to control the game and continued to defend well against a South African team trying everything to reach a more favourable result. Instead of that, it was the USA who ensured their success with a second goal, from Paul Singh this time, shortly before the end of the match.

Two further matches, in Pool A this time, will be played today:

Poland-Uzbekistan at 5pm

India-Russia at 9pm