In their inaugural game of the Commonwealth Games hockey competition on Saturday, Pakistan and South Africa were tied at 2-2 thanks to an assist from Afraz with 20 seconds left on the clock.
With two comeback victories in Pool ‘A’, Pakistan’s skipper Umar Bhutta was upbeat about his team’s prospects of finishing in the top two and moving on to the semifinals.
After the game, Umar told reporters, “We played a very excellent game today.” We shall give it our all to defeat New Zealand in the upcoming encounter and go to the semifinals.
Pakistan plays Scotland on August 3 and then the six-time champions Australia on August 4, following their encounter against New Zealand on Sunday.
Siegfried Aikman, the Dutch coach of Pakistan, promised media that his team would make sure not to make the same mistakes in their subsequent games.
Both Pakistan and South Africa started out energetically in a fun first period, but it was the South Africans who claimed the lead in the 14th minute when Connor Beauchamp successfully converted a penalty corner.
South Africa soon created a circle entrance after Pakistan tied the score on their first penalty corner through Rizwan Ali in the 25th minute, but they lacked the finesse to fully capitalise on the opportunity.
South Africa became more self-assured and attempted more shots, entered more circles, and won more penalty corners, but Pakistan’s defence was able to deny their attempts.
The teams began to waste control as the third quarter began, as Pakistan missed a good opportunity and failed to convert their second penalty corner.
