The South African national hockey team lost 0-1 to Olympic champs Germany in their second round-robin fixture of the four-nations Setanta Sports trophy tournament in Dublin, Ireland on Friday.
Initial reports to gsport were that the South African squad had lost 2-1, but the goal-difference result would have been the same for South Africa either way, which sees them equal with Scotland on one point, after each has played out a draw and a loss respectively.
Germany tops the log with 6 points, and hosts Ireland is second-placed on two points, after two goalless draws against Scotland and South Africa each, in advance of Saturday’s fixtures.
Having played the tournament’s best for an impressively narrow loss, coach Jenny King will be confident of her team putting in a sufficient enough effort to beat Scotland on Saturday, for a place in the final against Germany in Sunday’s final.
But King will take careful note of Scotland’s much-improved performance in their second match on Friday, when the tournament’s bottom-ranked team beat expectations to play out a goalless draw against hosts Ireland.
After being whipped 8-0 by Germany in their opening fixture, the Scots played much better on Friday to stay in contention for the tournament.
"We defended and performed much better today," Ireland Hockey’s website quoted Scotland coach Keith Joss. "And we restricted the Irish to very few chances. Now we have a genuine chance to reach the final."
But with Ireland almost certain to lose to a vastly superior German side this afternoon, a win for South Africa against Scotland will put them through to a final, who might take on South Africa with a little more respect in the tournaments closing match.
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