They will meet the winner of the second playoff between Malaysia and Great Britain in the 5th and 6th classification matches on Saturday.
South Africa presents an exciting game of hockey. South Africa should have contained the Kiwi attack but it was they who scored early in the 14th minute.
The goal was the result of a clever move by Damien Knott who crossed the ball to Viwe Mbata to fire past goalkeeper Hayden Ganley.
After that, New Zealand dominated the game and Jonty Elmes scored with a powerful shot that goalkeeper Gianluca Virissimo failed to save moments before the end of the first quarter to make it 1-1.
New Zealand, who finished fourth in the Sultan of Johor Cup 2014, started the third quarter with an attack and scored two more goals. Sam Lints made it 2-1 in the 36th minute and Gus Nelson’s third goal in the 47th minute.
Kiwi captain Benjamin Culhane was awarded man of the match. The award was presented by Datuk Seri N. Sri Shanmuganathan, captain of the national hockey team at the 1975 World Cup in Kuala Lumpur.
SULTAN JOHOR CUP: MALAYSIA TO DETERMINE 7TH/8TH POSITION
A 4-7 loss to Great Britain in the 5 to 8 ranking action, the 2023 Sultan of Johor Cup (SOJC) Under-21 (U-21) Hockey Championship saw Malaysia meet South Africa in the 7th and 8th place decider .
In the action that took place at Taman Daya Hockey Stadium, Great Britain first opened the scoring through Matthew Hughson who completed a penalty corner in the fifth minute.
Four minutes later the goal of the National Youth Squad was conceded again, this time a field goal contributed by Ted Graves in the ninth minute, followed by Ali Douglas’ goal in the last minute of the first quarter.
Entering the second quarter, the Young Tigers squad showed a remarkable comeback by scoring three goals in a row through Muhamad Faris Harizan in the 22nd minute and Jeffrynus Andywalfian, two minutes later after each finished off a penalty corner.
Harris Osman’s field goal in the 27th minute ensured that Malaysia leveled the score at 3-3 for a balanced position heading into the end of the first half.
Continuing the third quarter, Jacob Payton again put Great Britain in the lead by scoring two field goals in the 36th and 42nd minutes respectively.
However, Muhamad Faris Harizan rekindled the revival by closing the gap after completing a penalty corner in the 44th minute, but Great Britain tried to deny the revival when Henry Markham ripped the national team’s goal for the sixth time in the 49th minute.
Rory Penrose scored the victory for his team through the seventh goal for Great Britain in the 54th minute as a result of a penalty corner and saw it be Malaysia’s fourth consecutive defeat at SOJC 2023.
The result sees the Young Tigers squad square off in the seventh and eighth place decider against South Africa tomorrow evening.
Meanwhile, the manager of the National Youth Squad, Muhamad Amin Rahim admitted to being disappointed especially after conceding three easy goals in the first quarter.
“It was a little disappointing when we easily allowed the opponent to score three goals in the first quarter but we managed to get back into the game by scoring three equalizing goals.
“However, the determination and desire shown by the players to equalize the position in the first half must be praised.
“After entering the second half, third and fourth quarter, the players took care and made simple mistakes and the opponent took the opportunity to score a goal,” he said after the match.
Amin added, mistakes like this should be corrected immediately before going down to play in the Youth World Cup later.
“I think we have to fix this before the Youth World Cup later and in terms of seriousness to equalize the position after trailing 3-0, I have to give credit to the team,” he explained.
