Cassiem brothers shine as BlitzStoks defeat Croatia in World Cup opener

The SA men’s hockey team corrected an early wobble to open their IHF Indoor Hockey World Cup campaign with a 8-6 win over hosts Croatia, inspired by the Cassiem brothers, Dayaan and Mustaphaa, and debutant Hans Neethling.

The BlitzStoks conceded the first goal in the second minute on Monday, with Croatia’s skipper Mario Mucic netting with a brilliant angled finish.

Neethling grabbed his first goal of the night when he pounced on the rebound after Litha Kraai’s shot was saved. A defensive lapse then allowed Croatia to retake the lead. They led 3-1 at the break.

Hosts Croatia score their first-ever goal at an FIH Hockey Indoor World Cup in some style! 🔥

Stream all the matches here: https://t.co/OVLLn1N07B#IHWC2025 #IndoorHockey@eurohockeyorg @CroatiaHockey pic.twitter.com/wgaLoINQ0C

— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) February 3, 2025

“Quite an exciting day, I must say. Obviously, not the start we wanted, the first chukka of the game. We started very slowly, tentative. I think it was obviously the first-game jitters and nerves to get out of the system,” said SA head coach Justin Rosenberg.

“We changed our format and formation and the way we pressed in chukka two and obviously that helped us turn the game around somewhat for the next two chukkas, put them under more pressure, getting them into zones we wanted and turn the ball over and scored a couple of goals to obviously finish with the result 8-6.”

A Mustaphaa Cassiem goal had reduced the deficit to one, when a moment of magic from him off a penalty corner pulled the BlitzStoks level. Collecting the injection from the right side of the D, he flicked the ball home in a sweeping roundhouse motion while airborne (3-3).

Neethling added another, while Dayaan Cassiem drew defenders with a mazy run before feeding Mustaphaa to drive low and hard (5-3).

Veteran Jethro Eustice using his experience to marshal the defence and control the tempo of play. Young Leruo Dithlakanyane also showed great maturity under pressure.

In fact, it was a total team effort that kept SA in control for three of the four chukkas, and on track to improve on their quarter-final finish at the last World Cup, on home soil.

A couple of great saves by Anton van Loggerenberg in the SA goal helped maintain the two-goal lead going into the final quarter.

Here's a look at the men's standings at the end of day one men's matches at the #IHWC2025, with all teams having played one game.

Which team impressed you the most today? Let us know in reply! 👇#IndoorHockey

— International Hockey Federation (@FIH_Hockey) February 3, 2025

Neethling grabbed his third goal, with Dayaan Cassiem again the provider. And the skipper would get the reward his efforts richly deserved. He won the ball in his half before driving goalwards and scoring.

Mustaphaa Cassiem rounded off the scoring for SA with a penalty stroke.

With time running out, the Croatians sacrificed their goalkeeper and managed to pull two goals back to lend some respectability to the final scoreline.

While Rosenberg is happy with the three points, he pointed out areas for improvement ahead of Tuesday’s tricky clash against defending champions Austria.

“A couple things that we obviously need to work on going forward is to make sure we protect our defensive lines and our goals a little bit better, close the back door sooner, making sure we’re a little more clinical from the get-go, start the game off a lot better than we did,” he said.

“We’re playing against Austria tomorrow (Tuesday), which is the world champions and we need to make sure we start on the right foot and tone from the get-go, maintain that for 40 minutes and obviously not take our foot off the pedal.”

The Austrians were clinical in beating Poland 6-2 in their opening match on Monday, sounding a warning to their rivals that they will not surrender their title without a fight.

If the BlitzStoks could turn three chukkas of good hockey into four, they could spring an upset, however. Start the way they did against Croatia, and they are unlikely to find a way back into the match.