A last gasp goal from defender Wang Mengyu gave China a 4-3 win over South Africa, keeping alive their slim chances of claiming a place in the semi-finals of the Rabobank Hockey World Cup in The Hague, Netherlands. The result puts China onto seven points, three points behind both USA and Argentina, two teams that have a vastly superior goal differences to their Chinese rivals going into the final round of matches. China's hopes of reaching the semi-finals are now reliant on a massive victory over reigning World Champions Argentina and for USA to lose heavily against South Africa on Tuesday. Germany, South Africa and England are all out of the reckoning for the medal matches.  

The African Champions produced a very disjointed performance in the first half and were made to pay by the 2008 Olympic Silver medallists, who entered the half time break with a deserved 2-0 lead. Liang Meiyu scored the netted the first with a close-range penalty corner finish which trickled over the line after taking a deflection from a South African stick six minutes into the contest. Meiyu turned provider in the 15th minute, cutting across the top of the South African scoring circle from the left before supplying a perfect pass to Wu Mengrong who made no mistake from close range. 

Despite Chinese dominance, South Africa had plenty of chances to make their own mark on the scoreboard, with world record goal-scorer Pietee Coetzee sending penalty corner efforts wide of the left and right posts. 

South Africa were far less wasteful in the second period and reduced the deficit when a brilliant break forward was volleyed home by Kelly Madsen, although Wang Na took the score to 3-1 with a field goal in the 54th minute. 

The final ten minutes witnessed three goals, with Bernie Coston touching home from close range before Pietee Coetzee netted her 281st international goal in her 285th match with a 65th minute penalty corner. Just as it seemed as if South Africa were about to end China's interest in the semi-finals, the Asian team struck a 68th minute winner thanks to a penalty corner rocket from Wang Mengyu. The 22-year-old defender sent her drag-flick into the bottom left corner with unerring accuracy, giving China their second win of the tournament. 

Despite their impressive comeback, South Africa captain Marsha Cox was disappointed with the defeat against their higher-ranked opponents "I think we have let ourselves down in this match", said the 31-year-old. "Our aim is to improve our world ranking and we are still in position to do that, but I feel we have let ourselves down."