SA men’s hockey coach praises team’s grit in navigating bumpy road to continental glory

While the record 5-1 scoreline in the final of the African Hockey Cup of Nations against hosts Egypt in Ismaila may suggest that the SA men’s team had things all their own way in booking their 2026 World Cup ticket, interim head coach Devon van der Merwe has revealed that it was far from the case.

“A lot of experienced coaches that have been through the process will tell you how tough it is to win an Africa Cup, let alone an Africa Cup in Egypt,” Van der Merwe told Independent Media Sport exclusively after their triumphant return.

In fact, the struggles began long before the tournament kicked off, with scheduling issues resulting in a clash with club commitments for the bulk of the SA players based in Europe, who arrived after the tournament had begun.

“The majority of our guys still had games the weekend we assembled and then it meant that they missed the first weekend that tournament started, and they missed that weekend with their clubs, which put them under pressure,” Van der Merwe said.

“Our preparation was one-and-a-half days and then we didn’t play our first game because Zambia didn’t show up, so we trained in that slot.”

They finally got their tournament under way with a 3-1 over Kenya, but what followed was a fractious, controversial-drawn group game against the hosts.

“There were nine cards in that group game – four yellow cards and five green cards – so we spent 50% of that match a player down and there was a moment in that match where we had three players off the pitch at one time,” the SA coach revealed. 

“The boys dug deep and they were fantastic and it was a wonderful lesson for the guys that you’ve got to be extremely disciplined.” 

The South Africans managed to make it through the rest of the group stage unscathed, and were determined not to repeat the mistakes of the group game when they faced Egypt again in the final.

“The difference between the 3-3 draw and the 5-1 win was that the players, for one, learnt quickly that we need numbers on the park – 'we are going to have to be disciplined'. They also understood that we were going to have to play a brand of hockey where the umpires cannot influence the game. So we had understood that we needed to play cleaner and be more clinical,” Van der Merwe said.

“We made some tactical changes on and off the ball that set us up for the transition moments, and we had some set-piece options that we didn’t show at all throughout the week. Also, they couldn’t catch us on the break because we played with far better counter-control in the final than we did in the pool games.”

Egypt had no answers to the South African onslaught in the final, where star player Mustapha Cassiem showed his class once again with a hat-trick, but the result also owed a lot to the never-say-die spirit in the squad.

The eight-time continental champions will take their next step in their preparations for the World Cup – where they will be joined by the SA women, who also reigned supreme in Egypt – with a Test series against highly ranked India.