{"id":7038,"date":"2025-12-10T07:54:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T00:54:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/?p=7038"},"modified":"2025-12-10T07:54:27","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T00:54:27","slug":"england-finish-best-of-the-rest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/england-finish-best-of-the-rest\/","title":{"rendered":"England finish best of the rest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

England signed off from the FIH Hockey Men\u2019s Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025 with their fifth consecutive win, which was good enough for them to earn a 9th<\/sup>place as the fiercely-contested tournament witnessed the conclusion of the 9-24-place classification rounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The English team survived some nervous moments to beat Ireland, while Australia bagged the 11th<\/sup>place with victory over South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

England vs Ireland (Full-Time Score:<\/strong>2-0<\/strong>)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

England restored some of their pride by finishing best among the teams that failed to make it to the quarterfinals, beating Ireland 2-0 to go home with a 9th <\/sup>place finish, in a tournament they have never won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

England\u2019s best show in a Junior Men\u2019s World Cup has been two fourth-place finishes in 1997 and 2001. But on Tuesday, they were clearly the better team in a match among two neighbours. In fact, this was England\u2019s fifth straight win of this edition. But the only match they lost out of six \u2013 their tournament opener against Netherlands \u2013 cost them a place in the quarters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game was played in an attacking nature, with England earning 10 penalty corners and Ireland seven, while both the teams were awarded a penalty stroke each. England made better use of its chances, with Kaden Draysey leading from the front to score both of his team\u2019s goals by converting a 10th<\/sup>-minute penalty stroke to end the stalemate and adding a cushion in the 23rd<\/sup>minute off a penalty corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ireland were at their best in the third quarter, in which they created five penalty corners and were also awarded a penalty stroke, but they failed to put any of them across England goalkeeper James Carleton.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The script of the last two quarters saw both the teams failing to convert their chances, and England\u2019s better defence helped them clinch a 2-0 win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was a great game. Ireland put up an absolutely brilliant fight. Right till the death, it was a real battle. That\u2019s what we expect from them. Five wins in the tournament out of six matches, but we will still get the label of 9th<\/sup>place, which we would want to improve upon coming back in two-years\u2019 time,\u201d said England captain Max Anderson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe lads had been absolutely brilliant. We had been building for this for three years. Some of us have played our last junior international match. A lot of disappointment early on after losing to the Dutch. We knew that (match) was going to be very important in the tournament to try and get through (to the quarter-finals). We gave it our all. I think one word to sum it all up will be \u2018proud\u2019,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chile vs Switzerland (Full-Time Score: 2-1)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chile came from behind to secure the 15th<\/sup>spot with a fighting 2-1 win over Switzerland at the Mayor Radhakrishnan Hockey Stadium in Chennai to end their tournament on a high.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was only the second win in six matches for the Chileans. On the other hand, the Swiss team had a forgettable classification round and lost all its matches after doing well to register two wins in the pool stage \u2013 which incidentally included a 3-2 win over Chile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first 15 minutes didn\u2019t see any goals. But Jens Fluck broke the deadlock in the 18th<\/sup>minute to put Switzerland ahead from a penalty corner. Chile, however, managed to make things even before half-time, scoring the equaliser through Juan Velasco Kouyoumdjian. Umpire Annelize Rostron was kept busy by the players, forcing her to show three yellow cards in the second quarter \u2013 with Maurizio Ribaudo of Switzerland and Chile\u2019s Gaspar Fosalba and Santiago Pizarro serving five-minute suspensions each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the game in the balance, the third quarter saw the teams being cagey for most part but captain Felipe Richard completed Chile\u2019s rally to put them ahead 2-1 in the 40th<\/sup>minute, and the scoreboard stayed as is at the last two-minute quarter break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Chilean defence fought well to hang on to the thin lead in the goalless last quarter and ensure victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe knew it was going to be a tough match. We played against Switzerland in the group (stage), and I think this was our chance to win. It was tough. We really needed to defend a lot and I think we did a great job. We are happy to achieve our goal and now need to keep improving,\u201d said Chile captain Richard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Japan vs Malaysia [Full-Time Score: 1(0) \u2013 1(3)]<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Malaysia had their goalkeeper Haziq Hairul to thank for 13th<\/sup>-place finish as he stood tall in the post during a nervous shootout against fellow Asian team Japan in Chennai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It turned out to be a show of defence by each team as the finishing of strikers on both the sides left a lot to be desired. The game saw its first goal as late as the 29th<\/sup>minute, when Azimuddin Kamaruddin scored for Malaysia off a penalty corner. Japan had to wait until the 53rd<\/sup>minute when they finally managed to convert one of their attacks into goal through Shun Hara to force a tie-breaking shootout.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game saw just one of the 13 penalty corners producing a goal, with Japan failing to make their six PCs count and Malaysia converting just one out of seven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The shootout turned even more disappointing for Japan, as the Malaysian custodian Hairul didn\u2019t let Shogo Sasaki, Naru Kimura and Shun Hara go past him. In contrast, Malaysia scored off all their first three attempts, as Danish Khairil, Addy Jazmi Jamlus and Adam Johari scored past the Japanese keeper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThank you so much. All our players played well today; we followed our structure. Congrats to our goalkeeper (Haziq Hairul) for playing so well and getting the Player-of-the-Match award,\u201d said Malaysia captain Danish Khairil after the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia vs South Africa (Full-Time Score: 4-2)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Australia\u2019s concluding fixture, of an otherwise disappointing campaign by their high standards, produced a 4-2 win over South Africa that earned themthe11th<\/sup>place in the tournament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The win was a consolation one for the Burras who entered the tournament hoping to end a 28-year wait since they won their only Junior Men\u2019s World Cup in 1997. Australia haven\u2019t been on the podium either since 2009, when they finished with a bronze medal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aussies dominated the majority of the 60 minutes, except for the occasion when South Africa\u2019s Jaydon Brooker utilized a penalty corner to bring his team level at 1-1 just before half-time, after Australia had taken the lead in the 22nd<\/sup>minute off the stick of Duncan Jackson.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Patrick Andrew put the Aussies back in front in the 35th<\/sup>minute, and the former champions made use of two more penalty corners in the final quarter to make it 4-1 \u2013 thanks to Dylan Brick (51st<\/sup>) and Matthew Hawthorne (55th<\/sup>) \u2013 and take a decisive lead. The South Africans did manage to pull one goal back in the 57th<\/sup>minute, with Litha Kraai\u2019s strike that ended the game at 4-2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was definitely important for us to finish with a win. We didn\u2019t have the best tournament that we wanted to. We just spoke about it today, that it\u2019s the last time these 18 boys are going to play together (in this tournament). So, we decided to just have fun, enjoy the hockey that we did, and it was good to get the win,\u201d said Australia captain Dylan Downey. \u201cIt\u2019s the first time for me (in India). It\u2019s very different but the experience has been awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

England signed off from the FIH Hockey Men\u2019s Junior World Cup Tamil Nadu 2025 with their fifth consecutive<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7039,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[60],"class_list":["post-7038","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newsbeat","tag-hockey"],"aioseo_notices":[],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed.jpg",1000,563,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed-300x169.jpg",300,169,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed-768x432.jpg",640,360,true],"large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed.jpg",640,360,false],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed.jpg",1000,563,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed.jpg",1000,563,false],"morenews-large":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed-825x563.jpg",825,563,true],"morenews-medium":["https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed-590x410.jpg",590,410,true]},"author_info":{"info":["admin"]},"category_info":"Newsbeat<\/a>","tag_info":"Newsbeat","comment_count":"0","jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/England-hockey_compressed.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7038"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7038\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7041,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7038\/revisions\/7041"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.infinitysport.asia\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}