The Spanish men's national team has defeated South Africa by (3-0) in the second match played in the FIH Pro League that is being held at the Estadi Olímpic de Terrassa.
Max Caldas' team added its second consecutive victory against the South African team to close its participation in the venue that will host the next FIH Women's World Cup Spain & Netherlands 2022 presented by IBERDROLA.
The game started with a good pace of play. South Africa tried to surprise from the first minutes by betting on a vertical and fast game that was stopped by the solid defensive block of the hosts. Spain, with a good collective deployment on the wings, began to generate danger in the rival area. José Basterra was in charge of baptizing the result after a play that ended in the opponent's box in the first quarter (1-0, Minute 13).
In the second set, South Africa surprised with a good offensive connection that ended with a magnificent intervention by goalkeeper Mario Garín who kept the fence undefeated. Immediately afterwards, a play down the right wing by Xavier Gispert ended with a ball that Marc Recasens took advantage of to convert the second goal (2-0, Minute 21). Basterra, before the break, had his personal double but his shot would not end under the sticks.
Already in the third quarter, Marc Miralles had the third goal on his stick with a direct shot that went close to the crossbar. South Africa, after several minutes resisting in their field, responded with two opportunities from the penalty corner, which would not materialize thanks to the good intervention of the local defense and, in the second PC, thanks to a brilliant performance by goalkeeper Adrián Rafi, local goal owner in the second period.
In the last period, Marc Reyné looked for him to score, but his shot went high, foreshadowing a more lofty outcome. As a reward for the good offensive game of the #RedSticks, Eduard De Ignacio-Simó took advantage of a good pass from Reyné to score the third goal in the light (3-0, Minute 48).
In the final minutes, Spain tried to increase their goalscoring lead but in the end the result would not change, thus certifying the Spanish victory to add another three points.
This is the classification of the FIH Pro League:
FIH Pro League standings and points table
