• Hockey

Men's team adapts to bury Croatia

• 2 Days Ago 28 January 2025

The Namibian men’s indoor hockey team’s strong finish to level the three-match series against Croatia will provide a lot of inspiration for the FIH Indoor Hockey World Cup starting next week.

Croatia, as host of the upcoming world event for both men and women, drew the first test against the Namibian men 5-5 on Friday.

On Saturday, the Eastern Europeans edged out a 5-4 win, but on Sunday night the Namibians truly showed what they are capable of in a dramatic 10-5 win.

“I’m very happy. The ending really brought it together. We were looking for that inspiration to take us to the next level of our preparation,” men’s coach Trevor Cormack said afterwards.

“I really can’t complain; it was a really good match. Tactically Croatia came up with a strategy we did not expect and it paid off for them. We decided to counter them with the same game plan and the boys were really good playing six against six,” Cormack said, referring to Croatia’s move of replacing their goalkeeper with another court player.

Goals by Ernest Jacobs (two), Cody van der Merwe (three), Liam Hermanus and Fagan Hansen (four) turned the early deficits of 1-2 after the first quarter and 3-2 at halftime into a remarkable victory.

All four of Hansen’s goals were scored in the fourth quarter, as well as one by Jacobs and two by Van der Merwe.

“We tried various things during this series and therefore we are quite confident going into the World Cup,” Cormack added.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday night this week, the women’s teams of Croatia and Namibia will take each other on in their three-match series build-up to the World Cup.

Coach Shayne Cormack’s Namibian women’s team will be just as eager to put together some convincing performances.

The FIH Indoor World Cup starts next Monday (3 February), with the Namibian men opening against Belgium, shortly before their female compatriots get going against Australia.