Hockey World Cup: France beat South Africa 2-1, remain in contention for QF spot

France maintained their chances of qualifying for the quarterfinal by beating South Africa 21 in a Pool A match of the FIH Odisha Hockey Mens World Cup at the Kalinga Stadium here on MondayFrance had started with a 08 defeat against World No 1 Australia while South Africa had lost 01 to ArgentinaFrance and South Africa have competed multiple times over the past year in the FIH Hockey Pro League as well as the recently concluded FIH Hockey Mens Nations Cup In the Pro League it was France who got the better of South Africa twice while South Africa gained the upper hand in the Nations Cup With both teams facing openingday losses to Argentina and Australia the headtohead encounter was crucial for them both to try and win to avoid the bottom spot and try to make it to the quarterfinals or the crossoversBoth teams produced attacking hockey as most fans expected but goals in the first half came through penalty corners for both sides Victor Charlet was the first to score with a low flick that snuck in between the keeper and the post defender Connor Beauchamp equalised for South Africa in the 15th minute with an absolute ripper of a drag flick that went over the head of the French keeper and into the goalThe second half followed a similar pattern but it was Victor Charlet once again who made the difference perfectly placing a low drag flick into the bottom corner to give France the lead with less than four minutes left that won them the matchWe had made our plans for this game because we know South Africa are a good side so it was good to execute on those plans and earn this crucial win in the group Charlet who was awarded player of the match was quoted as saying by FIH on its websiteMalaysia beat Chile 32Also readDefending Champions Belgium arrive in Odisha for FIH Hockey Mens World Cup 2023Malaysia and Chile came into the opening contest of day 4 knowing it was crucial to get a win with both teams having faced losses in their opening encounters against the Netherlands and New Zealand respectivelyBoth teams played the match with an open attacking flair that they had been unable to express in their opening contests Chile were the first to score from a penalty corner as Juan Amorosos drag flick went through the rushing Malaysian defenders and thumped the backboard Malaysia then struck back as Razie Rahim scored from a penalty stroke But Chile got their lead back before the half through a smashing reverse shot by Martin RodriguezMalaysia had their work cut out if they wanted to win the game in the second half but they got their act together quickly scoring twice in the third quarter Ashran Hamsani got the leveller acrobatically deflecting a high ball from over his head into the goalNorsyafiq Sumantri then put Malaysia in the lead smartly passing the ball under the keeper on the reverse after a Malaysian penalty corner attempt was deflected by the first rusher Chile threatened to pull level in the very last second as they earned a penalty corner but two massive saves from Malaysian keeper Hafizuddin Othman got Malaysia the win and all 3 pointsNorsyafiq Sumantri was adjudged the player of the match for scoring the decisive goal for Malaysia Captain Marhan Jalil speaking after his teams win said We are happy with the win It wasnt the perfect game we could have played much better But its 3 points and that was what we needed todayThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever