Namibia concluded their best-ever campaign at the Indoor Hockey World Cup when the women’s team finished sixth and the men eighth in Porec yesterday.
Namibia’s women finished sixth after losing 6-1 to Belgium in the sixth place play-off, while Namibia’s men finished eighth after losing 5-4 to Iran in the seventh place play-off.
It was the best ever performance by Namibia’s women, beating their previous best of ninth at the 2018 Indoor World Cup, while the men matched their eighth place at the 2023 Indoor World Cup in Pretoria.
In the women’s match Belgium took the lead through a first quarter field goal by Joanne Peeters, but Namibia matched them all the way and going into half time it was still anyone’s game.
Belgium however piled on the pressure to go 3-0 ahead, before Tara Myburgh opened Namibia’s account from a short corner.
Any hopes of a comeback were dashed when Belgium scored two quick goals to go 5-1 ahead by the third quarter, before another short corner goal in the final quarter sealed a 6-1 victory.
Namibia coach Shayne Cormack said she was proud of her players.
“It was a tough game, but we still ran out believing we could win it and I’m really happy with the heart that our players showed – they went out believing they could do it,” she said.
“One or two decisions didn’t go our way, and that affected the game a little. When they were leading 1-0, they had six players on the field at a stage and normally you would get a short corner, while they get one player sent off, so if we had scored in that moment and actually got the decision the score could have been one-all and it could have changed the momentum of the game. But Unfortunately, it didn’t go that way and that got in our heads a little bit,” she added.
“It’s hard to come back from five goals down, but still they went out trying, and I’m very proud of them,” she said.
In the men’smatch, Ernest Jacobs put Namibia ahead from a short corner in the third minute, but Hamid Nooranian equalised for Iran from a short corner at the end of the first quarter.
Liam Hermanus restored Namibia’s lead with a short corner goal in the second quarter but Nooranian once again equalised for Iran from a short corner just before halftime.
Iran turned on the screws with three goals in the third quarter through Mohsen Bohlouli, Mahdi Shahokhi and Nooranian’s third to go 5-2 ahead.
Namibia once again made a strong comeback with goals by JP Britz from a short corner and Dakota Hansen with a field goal, but it was not enough as Iran held on for a narrow win.
Namibia coach Trevor Cormack said they are closing the gap on the top teams.
“I thought we came back well from a deficit and they had to work hard towards the end, but it’s always a privilege and an honour to play a side like Iran. When you come to a tournament like this you want to play the best, and they are currently ranked second in the world so even though they were playing for seventh and eighth positions, they are still a very good team,” he said.
“I m happy with the performance and the result but I think we are currently one goal away from being a top six team, so that’s what we will take back from this World Cup and start preparing on the next one,” he added.
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He said there was a slight improvement on their previous performance when they also came eighth.
“Well, basically we’ve gone sideways, because we also came eighth at the last world cup, although I must say that the results have improved tremendously. We were one goal away from the second, third and fourth ranked teams, so I think its an improvement but there’s still work to do.”
“I think currently the difference between the losses is we are not being overly creative. I think we are too careful at the beginning but then when there’s nothing to lose, wecome out more, so I think we just need to get a little bit more creative and take risks early on, which might pay off,” he said.
