Field Hockey Canada > Canada takes on Commonwealth rival South Africa in final Olympic match

Canada looks to finish Games on high by taking down South Africa

Canada closes out their Olympic competition with a commonwealth rivalry and a chance to finish the Olympic Games on a high note.

South Africa, the perennial continental champs of Africa, have had goal scoring in bunches during this competition and are coming off an incredible upset performance against Germany. They are led by team captain, Tim Drummond, who also represented at the 2012 Games in London as well as the veteran defensive presence of Austin Smith. The offensive fire power comes off the sticks of the Cassiem brothers. The 19-year-old Mustaphaa and 22-year-old Dayaan have combined for seven goals during this Olympic Games. Matthew Guise-Brown will be the one to watch at the top of the penalty corner attack.

With an impressive win over Germany yesterday, South Africa have kept themselves alive — albeit barely. With a massive win and some help elsewhere in the pool, they have a mathematical chance to move on. Playing spoilers is a Canadian team aiming to bounce back and looking to finish with their best performance.


Canada played South Africa at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and the 2018 World Cup. Photos/Yan Huckendubler


Canada and South Africa last matched up in official competition at the 2018 Men’s Hockey World Cup in Bhubaneswar. They played to a 1-1 draw, with Canada’s lone goal coming off a penalty stroke goal by Scott Tupper. Prior to that, South Africa topped Canada in the final pool-play game at the 2018 Commonwealth Games. Canada is looking to rewrite the script and win today’s meeting on the sport’s biggest stage.

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The Red Caribou are coming off a tough defeat at the hands of the Belgium Red Lions, that featured a second half to forget. The 24-hour turnaround for both teams mean conditioning and fitness are going to count double. With both teams facing almost sure elimination, finding the legs for this matchup will likely decide the winner. Canada still has a chance to finish higher than they did at the Rio Games. At that event, they finished with only a tie. A win tonight would earn them some important world ranking points and

Mark Pearson leads all Canadian goal-scorers with a pair. His first coming off a penalty corner set piece with Tupper. His second, a beautiful individual effort in yesterday’s game, where he danced into the circle and blasted a backhand top corner. Canada will need Pearson to lead an offensive unit that is the hunt for some goals. The Canadian attack has been a bright spot during these Games as Floris van Son, Pearson, Keegan Pereira and Jamie Wallace have been creative and caused difficulties for opponents. The normally ferocious penalty corner duo of Gordon Johnston and Tupper has been relatively quiet these Games, but packs a serious punch. If they can get to the penalty corner spot, expect them to cash in.


WATCH ALL THE ACTION

All Team Canada field hockey action will be streamed/televised live by CBC. Click below for streaming details. In addition, Field Hockey Canada will be hosting an online chat thread for every game, and special watch parties for our Great Britain and Belgium games. See below for more details.

WATCH ALL GAMES LIVE HERE | WATCH PARTY / TEAM CANADA FAN THREAD