Namibia signed off with a win as they beat Oman 4-2 in their final match at the Junior Men’s Hockey World Cup on Monday to finish 23rd out of 24 nations.
Oman opened the scoring with a penalty by Maitham Al Wahaibi at the end of the first quarter, but Namibia came back strongly in the second quarter. Josh van der Merwe equalised with a field goal while another field goal by Gerhard Myburgh gave them the lead for the first time.
Oman fought back and equalised when captain Alhussin Al Hasni scored from a short corner in the third quarter, but Namibia finished strongly to win the match with two late goals in the final quarter. Captain JP Britz scored from a short corner, while Ludwig van Rooyen made it 4-2 with a last minute field goal.
That win saw them finishing 23rd out of the 24 competing nations in their first appearance at the Junior Hockey World Cup, after they had lost both their previous two playoff matches against Austria and Canada over the weekend.
In the group stages Namibia suffered two heavy defeats, going down 12-1 to Belgium and 13-0 to Spain, but they made history on 30 November when they beat Egypt 4-2 to win their first ever match at the Junior World Cup.
That saw them finishing third in Pool D which put them into the 17th to 24th positional playoff matches.
On 4 December, Namibia lost 2-0 on penalties to Austria after the teams were tied 2-2 at the end of normal time.
The Namibian team, already depleted with several sick players, suffered a further setback when Matthew Lassen was yellow-carded toward the end of the third quarter and they had to play the final quarter one man down.
After a goalless first half, Namibia took the lead in the third quarter through a short corner goal by captain JP Britz, but Austria immediately equalised through a field goal by Benedikt Meisel.
Namibia won a penalty when Abraham Graham was fouled by the Austrian keeper and Britz scored from the spot to put them 2-1 ahead, but Austria once again responded with a field goal by Julian Kaiser to tie the match at 2-2 and send the match into a penalty shootout where Austria took the honours with a 2-0 victory.
That put them through to a tie against Canada for positions 21 to 24, but Namibia were once again defeated, going down 3-1.
Canada took the lead through a field goal by Leighton de Souza at the end of the first quarter, and held their narrow lead till the final quarter.
Namibia eventually equalised through a short corner goal by Britz in the final quarter, but Canada immediately regained the lead with a short corner goal by De Souza, while a late field goal by Robin Thind gave them a 3-1 victory.
Namibia’s junior women, meanwhile, have also found the going tough at the Junior Women’s World Cup in Santiago, Chile, losing all their group matches to finish bottom of Pool C.
On 1 December they lost 13-0 to India; two days later they lost 4-1 to Ireland, with Anthea Coetzee scoring their solitary goal; and on 5 December they lost 8-0 to Germany.
Namibia will now take on Scotland, who finished third in Pool E, in their opening positional playoff match today.
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