Chile and South Africa played earlier in the year at the World Cup, where Chile secured a narrow 1-0 win, and while that was a slow and defensive affair, the rematch in the Nations Cup was an end-to-end thriller that could have gone either way. Chile snatched all 3 points, scoring with less than a minute left in the game to take all three points and set-up a winner-takes-all game against Japan inthe final pool game.

Chile had the better start to the game, finding players behind the South African defence twice in the opening 5 minutes, but the momentum swung South Africa’s way towards the end of the first quarter, and they managed to score in the first minute of the second quarter through the impressive Ntsopa Mokoena, who has been their best player in the tournament so far. South Africa’s ascendancy continued, but two minutes later Chile were level thanks to a brilliant deflection by Manuela Urroz, who was the scorer for Chile in their 1-0 win over South Africa at the World Cup. 

The second half followed a similar pattern as both teams took turns dominating possession and territory, but neither could find a clear opening. South Africa had its chances at penalty corners but could not execute its plans. Chile won a penalty corner with just 49 seconds left on the clock and broke South African hearts, as Fernanda Villagran stepped up and buried her flick low to the right of the stretching South African keeper.

Manuela Urroz, who levelled the scores for Chile, was awarded player of the match and said, "We have a lot of belief and confidence in our abilities. We were a player short in the final minutes against a dangerous counter-attacking team in South Africa, but we believed we could win, and we proved it with that goal in the end."

South Africa will face India on Wednesday in their last pool match.

FIH