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Held 2-2 at the half-time, Spain woke up in time to add two more goals in the second session to start their campaign in the Hero Honda FIH World Cup with a facile 4-2 victory on Sunday.
South Africa had come out fighting and took the lead in the 16th minute as the team made a tentative start. They were defensive and looked for counterattacks for scoring opportunity. Spain leveled scores and then put pressure on the South African citadel to gain three points for their efforts.
For the opening match of the tournament, South Africa, ranked 13th in the FIH World Rankings were not disgraced as they fought strongly in the first half against World No 3 Spain at the Major Dhyan Chand National Stadium on Sunday.
Julian Hykes (16th min) put South Africa ahead before Roc Oliva (17th) and David Alegre (19th) scored to give Spain a 2-1 lead. Just when it looked Spain will increase the lead, Ian Haley (29th) scored to bring South Africa level at 2-2. That's how the scored remained till end of the first session as the two teams created couple of good chances but could not capitalise.
The second session belonged to Spain as the team established its superiority. Their midfield took control of play and though South Africa continued to fight and tried to thwart them, Rodrigo Graza (54th) pushed in a field goal and Pau Quemada (61st) bulged the net with a rasping drag flick, the first penalty corner conversion of the tournament, to settle the issue in favour of Spain.
Result:
South Africa 2 (Julian Hykes (16th, Ian Haley 29th min) lost to Spain 4 (Roc Oliva 19th, David Alegre 19th, Rodrigo Graza 54th, Pau Quemada 61st min).

Source: Hindustan Times