A stellar offensive and defensive effort from Scotland in the final against Egypt saw them come away with a 4-2 win to claim the inaugural FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2 title and the promotion to the FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2026.
Earlier in the day, Poland edged past USA in the shoot-outs following an engaging 2-2 draw in the regulation time, to win the bronze medal.
Austria and Chile were also winner in the classification matches over China and Oman in the 5/6th place match and the 7/8th place matches respectively.
7/8 Place: Oman 1 – 2 Chile
The 7/8 place classification game started with an early goal from Chile as a shot from Kay Gesswein took an unfortunate deflection off Al Shaaibi and went past the wrong footed keeper. The game was played in an end-to-end fashion with Chile holding more possession, but Oman created some good chances, including two penalty corners, and went close from both of them, but could not find the target. Chile almost doubled their lead on the stroke of halftime but Felipe Richard’s shot hit the post and went wide with Chile taking a 1-0 lead into the break.
Oman continued to improve as the game went on and their work in the third quarter was rewarded as a string of penalty corners finally helped them open the scoring as captain, and centurion on the day, Khalid Al Shaaibi injected the ball on the set piece got to the near post and deflected the shot in, to mark his milestone with a goal. It was Chile however who got the winner as an attempted clearance by the Oman defence fell to Alvaro Garcia, who did well to bring the ball under his control and smash a shot past the keeper to earn Chile a win in their final match at the event.
Juan Amoroso was awarded player of the match and said: “That was a tough match in the hot conditions against the home side that played with so much energy. In the end it was good to get those two goals and end the tournament with a win.”
5/6 Place: China 1 – 3 Austria
The first half was a tale of Chinese dominance and two penalty corners. The first one was scored by China in the opening quarter through Gao Jiesheng. The goal was the only conversion by China from their 7 penalty corners in the opening half. Austria’s equaliser also came from a penalty corner in a dramatic fashion. They won the set piece with 2 seconds left on the clock and while their initial attempt was stopped on the line, China stopped playing while the ball was still inside the circle, and a sharp steal by Austria led to Moritz Frey steering the ball into an empty goal while the Chinese defence stood shell shocked.
Austria used the momentum from their late equaliser in the first half to make a much better start to the second. Their early pressure paid off with Moritz Frey receiving a long aerial in the Chinese circle and getting a powerful reverse shot on target beyond the keeper to give the Red Capricorns the lead. As China threw more and more player into attack in search of the equaliser, Austria scored a third from a counter attack with Josef Winkler and Nikolas Wellan playing one-twos around the keeper, leaving Wellan with an empty goal to tap the ball into.
Moritz Frey was awarded player of the match for his two goals that helped Austria get the win and get the 5th place in the competition.
Bronze: USA 2 – 2 Poland (Shoot-out: USA 1-3 Poland)
Two evenly matched sides in USA and Poland produced fantastic hockey in the opening quarter, but a grave error from Mendoza on the edge of the USA circle, as he tried to play a no-look pass to his teammate led to the opening goal for Poland. The attempted pass went straight to the waiting stick of Koperski, who took one step and buried a powerful shot from the top of the circle into the corner of the goal. That goal remained the only one to be scored in the opening half.
USA started slow in the second half with the Polish side in the ascendancy. The second goal of the game also went Poland’s way after Koperski’s flick was stopped on the goal-line by the post defender’s foot and led to a penalty stroke, which was dispatched with ease by Gracjan Jarzyński who doubled the European side’s lead in the bronze medal match. USA were back level by the end of the third quarter with Aki Kaeppelar scoring from a penalty stroke and Mehtab Grewal putting the finishing touches to a great move from the left flank by Pat Harris and Charasika. With no goals coming in the final quarter despite USA’s dominance, the match headed into the shoot-outs to determine the outcome.
Polish keeper Mateusz Popiołkowski was the star of the show in the shoot-outs as he stopped USA on three of their four attempts, while Poland strikers converted all three of their attempts as Poland came away winners, to become the bronze medalists at the FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2 Oman 2025.
Final: Egypt 2 – 4 Scotland
Egypt made the brighter start and kept prodding the Scottish defence, but the European side stood firm and opened the scoring from an incredibly difficult opportunity as Struan Walker received the ball on the left side of the Egyptian circle, but the narrow angle and distance from the goal did not phase him as his reverse shot found the far corner of the goal to perfection, giving Scotland the lead. The second quarter was more even in nature but once again it was Scotland who got the goals from penalty corners. The first came through a Jamie Golden drag flick that went over the keeper's head before he could react, and the second through a Struan Walker hit from a 30th minute penalty corner that found the bottom left corner of the goal to perfection.
With a 3-goal deficit to overcome in the second half, Egypt started pushing hard early in an attempt to claw back the deficit, but Scotland’s defence continued to stand firm and stopped Egypt from scoring on four penalty corners in the first five minutes. Their work was rewarded on the other end as a counter attack from a saved penalty corner turned into the fourth Scottish goal, coming from the stick of Austin Thomas this time. Egypt finally got on the board midway through the final quarter with Mohamed Ragab scoring from their 11th penalty corner of the game! Egypt added a second through an Ahmed Elganaini penalty stroke, but the deficit overall was too much to overcome as Scotland came away with 4-2 win and the inaugural FIH Hockey Men’s Nations Cup 2 title.
Struan Walker, receiving the player of the match, said: “The party starts right away for us. The boys are absolutely on fire at the moment and that was a brilliant performance from some really talented players that we have in our side. A very deserving victory for us in the end I think.”
Final Standings
- Scotland
- Egypt
- Poland
- USA
- Austria
- China
- Chile
- Oman
FIH Hockey Nations Cup 2 – 23 February 2025
Hockey Oman Venue, Muscat, Oman
Result: Match 1
Oman 1 – 2 Chile
Player of the match: Juan Amoroso (CHI)
Umpires: Titus Mulwa (KEN), Mohammad Ali Shahbaz (BAN)
Result: Match 2
China 1 – 3 Austria
Player of the match: Moritz Frey (AUT)
Umpires: Hussain Al Hasani (OMA), Sheena Hori (JPN)
Result: Match 3
USA 2 – 2 Poland (SO: USA 1-3 Poland)
Player of the match: Maksymilian Koperski (POL)
Umpires: Jayden Pearson (AUS), Clare Barwood (WAL)
Result: Match 4
Egypt 2 – 4 Scotland
Player of the match: Struan Walker (SCO)
Umpires: Benjamin Messerli (SUI), Tyler Klenk (CAN)
