Namibia’s indoor hockey girls’s workforce received the proper send-off for subsequent week’s World Cup with an emphatic 4-1 win towards Croatia on Wednesday evening.
In a hard-fought, bodily encounter, Namibia held a slim 1-0 lead at halftime, however their fixed strain advised after the break as they ran out comfy winners.
Two objectives by Danja Meyer and one every by Marika Neethling and Azaylee Philander accomplished a commanding victory.
That victory gave them a 2-0 sequence win and was an enormous enchancment after a lacklustre 1-1 draw of their second check the day gone by, leaving coach Shayne Cormack happy and proud.
“I’m pleased with the ladies tonight – their connections had been significantly better, we tried totally different line modifications which labored and I’m actually, actually completely happy.
I simply noticed the enhancements tonight, the belief was there and so they performed the phases very nicely, so I’m actually pleased with the outcomes,” she mentioned.
It was fairly a bodily and intense match, however Cormack mentioned they wanted a contest like that.
“We need to manage that better. I think we need to just get stuck in as well because they’re winning the 50-50 balls, so we’ve got to learn from that. The umpire’s not giving us the ball. We’ve got to fight for the ball just as hard as they do. But we hit that circle, we took shots, we took risks and got the rewards.”
She mentioned they may now begin getting ready for his or her opening match on the World Cup towards Australia on Monday.
“I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s rest day, but then we’re going to just get into the zone again. We’ll get some footage on Australia and then we’re going to start all over again,” she mentioned, including that she believed Namibia can beat Australia.
“I really believe we can beat them. They are ranked fifth in the world, while we are 12th, so on stats, they should get the win. But anything’s possible, we’ve prepared really well, and our girls believe in themselves, so we’re definitely going to go out and take the game to them,” she mentioned.
Cormack’s daughter and star midfielder Kiana Cormack mentioned all of the gamers improved so much after the second check.
“We got through a lot of the things that we spoke about and we achieved a lot of the outcomes, so we’re very happy with the win and with winning the series. I think our performance was really good and a lot of the other players definitely stepped up tonight and that was nice to see,” she mentioned.
“Croatia is a very physical team. I think the first game we were just having fun but the second day they came out quite hard, so we were a little bit more prepared for that. But that’s exactly how it’s going to be at the World Cup, so it’s good preparation for us so that we can be ready for that physicality,” she added.
Cormack mentioned they’re assured and looking out ahead to the World Cup.
“We definitely want to finish in the top two in our pool, I think its possible and then we’ll take it from there and see how the quarterfinals go. I think we have a good chance and we are looking forward to it,” she mentioned.
Stay knowledgeable with The Namibian – your supply for credible journalism. Get in-depth reporting and opinions for
solely N$85 a month. Invest in journalism, spend money on democracy –
Subscribe Now!