AHF: Austria fall narrowly short as Poland, Scotland and USA join Egypt in the semi-finals

The final day of pool play at the FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup 2 came to an end in Muscat, Oman with Egypt, Poland, Scotland and United States claiming the four semi-final spots.

It will be Egypt taking on United States in the first semi-final, while Scotland will take on Poland in an all-European second semi-final tie, with the matches to be played on Saturday, 22 February, following a rest day tomorrow.

Egypt 2 – 2 Poland

Egypt opened the scoring in the first quarter doing what they do best, as they absorbed pressure from Poland, won the possession with a good tackle and a quick counter attack set Ziad Adel one-on-one against the keeper and he made no mistake in putting the African side into the lead. Poland’s constant pressure finally paid off midway through the second quarter as Maksymilian Koperski brought them level from a penalty corner, with the teams heading into halftime level at a goal apiece.

Poland finally had the lead they were desperately searching for with Gracjan Jarzyński giving them the lead with a 48th minute field goal. Egypt ramped up the pressure to find the equaliser in the final minutes and won a string of penalty corners in the last minute of the game, the fifth of which led to a penalty stroke that was dispatched by Ahmed Elganaini bringing Egypt level with less than 20 seconds left in the game. The draw gave Egypt the top spot in the pool. Poland, through the tie, also secured their semi-final spot as the second placed team in Pool A.

Maksymilian Koperski, who opened the scoring for Poland in the first half was awarded the player of the match and said: “It was a good team performance but we wanted to win this game. However, a spot in the semi-final was the first aim, so we have achieved that target.”

China 2 – 1 Chile

Despite both teams getting knocked out of semi-finals contention before the start of the match, China and Chile showed plenty of fight in their last pool stage match. An end to end first half saw plenty of scoring opportunities but just one goal from Luis Valenzuela as Chile headed into the break up by a goal.

China were back level inside a minute into the second half, as a poor giveaway just outside their defensive circle by Juan Amoroso gave China a 3 on 2 opportunity and Deng Jingwen made the most of it with a vicious shot from the top of the circle that gave the Chilean keeper no chance. China completed the turnaround in the final quarter with Lu Yuanlin pouncing on a loose ball inside the circle and calmly pushing his shot beyond the keeper’s reach. China’s defence did the rest of the work, holding firm and claiming their first win of the competition.

Chao Jieming was awarded player of the match for his industrious work in the midfield and said: “Happy to get our first win of the tournament in a tough match. We didn’t start off well with Chile applying a lot of pressure, but once we got our first goal, we were much better and finished off the game well with the final quarter goal.”

USA 2 – 3 Scotland

Scotland began a must win game in an incredible fashion as a long aerial from the defence found Struan Walker all alone inside the American circle and the Scottish star calmly lifted the ball with his first touch over the American keeper, and a minute later they had doubled their lead through a Jamie Golden penalty corner goal. USA were back level heading into half-time however, thanks to two penalty corner strikes by emerging star Sekayi Charasika.

A win would ensure a semi-final spot for Scotland, given their superior goal difference compared to the United States, and they played with that urgency in the second half. A strong spell to start the final quarter finally led to the goal the Scots were seeking as once again it was Struan Walker who provided the goods, receiving the ball inside the circle, turning to his backhand and smashing a powerful reverse shot past the sprawling goalkeeper into the bottom corner of the goal, which would be enough to give them the lead, the win and a spot in the semi-final!

Struan Walker was awarded the player of the match and speaking of his goals and his team’s path forward, said: “I think that pass from Golden (for the first goal) was pretty spectacular. I don’t overthink my game, so when I saw the opportunity I just took the shot over the keeper. We don’t know yet who our opponents in the semi-finals will be, so we will be watching the next game with great interest and let’s see how the rest of the tournament goes.”

Austria 5 – 3 Oman

Austria needed a 5-goal win over Oman to overtake United States on goal difference and qualify for the semi-final, but it was Oman who struck first from a penalty corner in the 11th minute of the game. Austria had plenty of chances to score in the first half, winning 7 penalty corners, but were wasteful from the set pieces and went into the break down a goal, requiring a huge second half comeback to progress their Nations Cup 2 campaign.

Oman once again scored first in the second half from their second penalty corner of the game, but Austria came roaring back scoring three goals towards the end of the third quarter to revive their chances of progressing to the semi-final. Needing four more goals in the final quarter, Austria scored first, but an Oman counter attack a minute later reduced the deficit once again and put the semifinals beyond the Austrians, who added another goal at the end to win the tie 5-3, but finished behind Scotland and United States in third place of Pool B.

Nikolas Wellan was awarded player of the match for his two goals and said: “Very tired after that frantic game. Obviously disappointed to not qualify for the semifinal, but we will do our best in the final two classification games and aim to win them both.”

To see the final pool standings in the FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2, click here.

FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2 – 20 February 2025

Hockey Oman Venue, Muscat, Oman

Result: Match 1

Egypt 2 – 2 Poland

Player of the match: Maksymilian Koperski (POL)

Umpires: Benjamin Messerli (SUI), Hussain Al Hasani (OMA)

Result: Match 2

China 2 – 1 Chile

Player of the match: Chao Jieming (CHN)

Umpires: Jayden Pearson (AUS), Clare Barwood (WAL)

Result: Match 3