EGYPT 2 VS SOUTH AFRICA 1 (5th-6th Place)
Egypt and South Africa were playing for the fifth and sixth places in the 29th edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2022.
Egypt won 1, drew 1 and lost 3 of the 5 matches they played, while South Africa won 1 match and lost the other 4 in round robin of this tournament.
The match started with a lot of intensity, both teams came out looking for the game and both had an attacking attitude trying to reach the goal.
It was in the 12th minute of the game that BEAUCHAMP Connor took advantage of a penalty corner for his team and scored his third goal in this tournament for the 25-year-old player with a drag flick to one end of the goal.
At 1-0 up, the game began to pick up momentum as Egypt went in search of a goal. While TAHIR Zaman’s side had clear chances to equalise (including a ball that hit the crossbar) it didn’t happen until the 29th minute when ADEL Ziad Baioumy Ibrahim’s penalty corner from a set piece came in and deflected the ball in to make it 1-1 for the Reds.
The Reds were still chasing the game and it was RAGAB Is Abdalla Hossameldin who received the ball in the circle and without hesitation fired a missile into the keeper’s right-hand post at breathtaking speed to make it 2-1.
The men in white had a clear chance with two minutes to go, but the Egyptian goalkeeper prevented the ball from going into the net.
Egypt won the match 2-1 in a thrilling match between two great teams.
In this way South Africa will keep the 6th place and Egypt will keep the 5th place in this new edition of the Sultan Azlan Shah Cup 2022.
JAPAN 3 VS PAKISTAN 5 (3rd-4th Place)
The second match of the day was the 3rd and 4th place match between two teams that had played each other a few days before and had drawn 2-2. Already knowing each other and having played each other Japan and Pakistan were aware of each other’s weaknesses and strengths.
Japan won 2 matches, drew 1 and lost 2, while Pakistan won 1, drew 2 and lost 2.
The team coached by TAKAHASHI Akira started the match winning after 10 minutes of play with a goal by FUKUDA Kentaro to make it 1-0.
The Pakistani team didn’t let a minute go by and in the 11th minute SHAHID Abdul equalized, the 17-year-old player.
Pakistan never stopped moving forward, took control of the match and in the 18th minute AHMAD Arbaz put his team 2-1 ahead with a drag flick goal from a penalty corner at a very important moment of the match.
The boys in white never stopped advancing and in the 27th minute ROOMAN took a rebound from the goalkeeper inside the circle and slotted the ball home in a very difficult move to make it 3-1,
The boys in blue were showing team play and so they managed to get on the scoresheet for NAGAI Yuma to make it 3-2 and give the game some adrenaline. With the game going back and forth, Pakistan was going strong and managed to overtake Japan with every ball, not allowing them to advance and they kept scoring goals. In the 35th minute ROOMAN again gave his team a 4-2 lead with an extraordinary goal with a shot from an impossible angle into the net.
Japan did not want to be left behind and kept looking for shots in the box and in the 50th minute, NAGAI Yuma scored the equalizer to make the score 4-3.
Pakistan wanted to prove that they deserved to win this match and in the 53rd minute RANA Abdul made it 5-3 to give the victory to the men in white.
Japan took 4th place while Pakistan deservedly took 3rd place in the tournament.
