Namibia in historic win against Egypt

Namibia sealed a historic 4-2 victory against Egypt at the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup in India yesterday to blow new life into their world cup campaign.

Namibia had beaten Egypt once before – at the Junior World Cup Qualifier in April this year, but now they have done it for the first time on the global stage.

Namibia had opened their campaign with a sobering 12-1 defeat to Belgium on Friday, but bounced back with a top-class performance against Egypt. 

Afrter a goalless first quarter, a field goal by Liam Bruys put Namibia ahead while James de Jager added a second three minutes later to go 2-0 ahead. 

Abdelrahman Kasem opened Egypt’s account to reduce the deficit to 2-1 at halftime, but Namibia’s player of the match, Josh van der Merwe struck early to put Namibia 3-1 ahead by the third quarter.

Egypt once again responded with a goal by Mohab Hegab, but Namibian captain JP Britz sealed their win with a short corner goal in the last minute of the match. 

After the match Britz said it was still difficult to comprehend it all. 

“I can’t put it into words, the adrenaline from the game is still in me, but I’m really proud of the boys for sticking it through till the end. We pride ourselves in our defence and that showed,” he said.

“We let in two soft goals but we made up for it during the match. We knew the defence was going to win us this game and then we just had to use our chances. We had a few good chances that we should have buried, but I’m still happy with the end result,” he added. 

Britz said the victory against Egypt meant a lot to the nation. 

“It means the world, not just for me, but for Namibia, for the people back home, and for the juniors in our team who are going to play at another Junior World Cup, so that says a lot,” he said. 

Namibia’s assistant coach Randy Slabbert said it was a remarkable victory against the odds, with nearly half the team unwell before the match. 

“What makes today’s result even more special is that about half the team is battling with stomach ailments. The bench at times looked like a battle field but players showed so much desire and commitment,” he said. 

“Namibia is ranked 34th and Egypt 15th on the FIH international rankings, so it’s a big step-up from our first match at the world cup,” he said.

“Belgium are ranked third in Europe and seventh in the world, and we started well, only trailing 1-0 at the end of the first quarter. Unfortunately we lost shape and structure in the second quarter and got severely punished, but after halftime we improved notably losing the half 5-1,” he said. 

Namibia’s next match is against the European champions Spain, who are ranked fourth in the world and Slabbert said they expect a tough match.

“We expect a tough outing with Spain. They beat Belgium 2-0 and appear very mobile, skilful and flexible with their structure. It certainly brings with it, its own challenges. Key will be our shape and structure, and the recovery of our players who are currently dehydrated,” he said. 

Namibia’s women’s team meanwhile kick off their campaign at the Junior Women’s World Cup in Chile with a match against India today. Earlier Namibia drew 1-1 against Canada in a warm-up match. 

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