In the final match of day 1 of the BDO Champions Challenge I in Cape Town, the Southafrican hosts picked up valuable points against their Chilean opponents.
The home team took initiative from the starting whistle, and eight minutes into the game, Kathleen Taylor got them on the scoreboard with a bouncy reverse stick hit that went through between goalkeeper Claudia Schuler’s legs and that was going to be the only goal of the match and thus the decider, even though nobody knew this just yet.
South Africa kept a good grip on the game after their goal but could not pull further away, faced with Chilean players who were trying hard but suffering from too many unforced errors and sloppy mistakes. Up front, Daniela Infante, her country’s all time leading female goalscorer, was most dangerous for Chile, but even she could not get the “Reds” a good shot on goal today.
South Africa had a good many circle penetrations but were unable to extend their lead. In the 28th minute, Kathleen Taylor even wasted a perfect opportunity after taking advantage of a terrible mistake by Sofia Walbaum in the Chilean defense that saw Walbaum give away the ball with an open path to the goal for Taylor. Already past the goalkeeper, Taylor took a shot on an open goal from the far left, but the ball went wide.
Subsequently, in the final minutes of the first half, Chile were finally able again to get near the Southafrican circle a few times, but they lost the ball too easily to create any real danger. The hosts maintained their lead and went into halftime with a one goal advantage.
In the opening minutes of the second half, the two teams seemed more evenly matched, after Chile shifted up a gear and played more focussed hockey. This settled the two teams in a deadlock however, that neither of them was able to break out of until Chile started falling back into first half patterns and giving away the ball too easily.
South Africa could not make use of their opponents’ weak moments however, and had to fear until the very last minute for their three points. The relief showed on their faces when the final whistle absolved them, as the Chileans left with hanging heads after having come so close to laying down a first major upset in the event.
Chile – South Africa 0:1 (0:1)
8′ RSA – Kathleen TAYLOR (FG)
Source: www.worldhockey.org
That is a bad result. I watched the Chile side at the Pan-American games and they were not great. SA should be putting that team away 5-0 at least.