Hockey: Still much left to prove in cup play-off match

NEW DELHI - On the rugby field this would be the clash of the year.

At the Hockey World Cup it is the first game on the penultimate day - a play-off for 9th-10th.

For South Africa it is the chance to improve their world ranking after arriving as the 11th-best team (of 12 and with Argentina, who will play India for 7th-8th in the following game, the only team ranked behind them).

For New Zealand it is a nothing like what coach Shane McLeod and his players had hoped for as the world No 8 and who now fear a rankings drop in a year in which they still have so much to play for.

The two countries have met only once at the World Cup - in 2002 in Kuala Lumpur - with New Zealand winning 2-1 in pool play.

Despite slumping to their biggest loss of the tournament in going down 5-2 to defending champions Germany, the Black Sticks will start favourites.

They have scored five goals less than the Africans - eight against 13 - but defensively they are well ahead in conceding 12 compared with South Africa's 28.

McLeod is looking for more of what his team produced in an emphatic 20-minute spell in the second half against the Germans when they scored twice and just failed to covert a third.

"I was not happy with what we produced in the first half," said McLeod.

"That's when the game was lost, not with those two late goals the Germans scored. It [qualifying for the higher play-off] was in our hands but we couldn't finish the job off when we did get back to 3-2.

"We have struggled since we lost Phil Burrows but we can't use the players we do not have here as an excuse all the time. There are others who need to look at themselves and ask whether they are playing their best hockey ...

"Too often Ryan Archibald, always our go-to man, has been isolated. Without a partner he struggles. That is where we are missing a player like Phil.

"Some players have done okay," said McLeod.

"When Blair Hopping pushed forward he gave us some attacking options. In the second half against Germany I thought Nick Wilson was very good but we have not been consistent enough across the park."

After two day's break and with just pride to play for, this is the Black Sticks' last chance to save face.

In today's late game, South Korea meet Spain in the 5th-6th play-off.

WORLD CUP
* New Zealand v South Africa
* Dhyan Chand National Stadium
* 11.05 tonight