Tight match between Italy and Russia

In the A-division Tuesday started with an interesting match between Italy and Russia. Neither of the teams had been able to take points in the previous matches. This meant that the points from the internal match will decide, which team will be fourth and which fifth in the Group A. The 4th place in the group means still a chance to be 7th in the A-division and qualify directly to the WFC 2010.

The Russians were more eager in the beginning of the match as they took the lead 5-1 in the first period. In the second period the active 1 400 spectators saw first Russian making an own goal and after that Italy scored and narrowed the score to 3-5. In the beginning the third period the score was 6-3 to Russia.

Russian Vladimir Garevskikh took a 2 minutes penalty. At first it looked as if Italy wouldn´t be able to take advantage of the power play as the Russians scored short handed. Maybe that was the wake-up call the Italians needed, because they scored three goals in five minutes and the score was 6-7 ten minutes before the end of the match.

The last ten minutes were intensive and only one minute before the end Italy got what they wanted as Boris Pellegrini tied the match to 7-7.

Russia has now played all group matches and they have one point and a goal difference -25. Italy on the other hand have one match left, they have one point and a goal difference -24. This means that in the last match against Czech Republic Italy needs to get a good result if they want to get the fouth place in the group. It is enough for Italy if they win or play a draw with Czechs or lose 0-1 or 1-2. If the match ends with a result 2-3 to Czechs, then Italy and Russia will have exactly the same goal difference and the 4th and 5th place will be decided by a ballot.

Austria clear for the B semi-finals in Group C

The match between Austria and Slovenia started tight as the score after first period was 3-2 to Slovenia. In the second period Austria scored twice and took the lead 4-3.

In the third period Slovenia took four two minutes penalties and Austria punished them with two power play goals. All in all Austria scored four times in the third period and won the match with 8-4.

In the end of the match Slovenian player Damir Dzafic received Match Penalty 3 after insulting the Austrian coach and is therefore suspended from Slovenia´s last group match.

Austria took their second victory in three matches and therefore secured their place in the B semi-finals already before their last match. Austria is currently in the second place in the Group C with four points. The third team in Group C, Singapore, has played all their matches and has also four points. However, Austria won the internal match between the teams with score 8-2 and therefore has the advantage if the teams will have the same amount of points after all matches. In the last match Austria will play against Great Britain.

Singapore stronger than Great Britain

The second match of Group C was between Singapore and Great Britain. Also in this match the first period was even, the score after 20 minutes was 2-2.

Singapore totally controlled the second period and scored five goals taking the lead 7-2 after 40 minutes. After these goals the third period was just a formality, both teams scored once and the final score was 8-3 to Singapore.

Singapore has now played all their group matches and secured the third place in Group C. They will play for the 15th place in the placement matches on Saturday 13.12. Great Britain has still one match left as they will tomorrow meet Austria and try to take the first points of the tournament.

Estonia and Denmark fought for the 4th place in Group B

Denmark and Estonia had not taken any points before today´s match where they met each other. This meant that only the winner of the match will still get the chance to play for direct qualification to WFC 2010. The seventh team of A-division is the last team to achieve direct place for the next WFC and the fouth teams of Groups A and B will play for the 7th place.

This result confirmed the 4th place of Group B for Estonia. In the match for the 7th place and direct qualification for WFC 2010 Estonia will meet Italy or Russia. The other of these two teams will meet Denmark in the match for the 9th place.

The match was even in the beginning and it took ten minutes before the first goal was scored, this was done by Denmark. In the first period there were seen also an equalizer from the Estonian team as Roman Pass scored in the power play. In the second period Estonia scored twice and took the lead 3-1. However, Denmark did not give up and in the beginning of the third period they tied the match with a power play goal by Stig Thorsteinsson.

Then Estonia had a good phase when they scored three goals in three minutes and took the lead 6-3. Even this was not enough for the Danes and they scored twice. Again there was only one goal between the teams. In the end Estonia was the stronger team and was able to score once more to the empty net and won the match 7-5.

Poland winner of Group D

In the B-division Group D there were two battles in the opposite ends of the standigs table. Before today´s matches, Hungary and Netherlands had not taken points and were in the bottom of the group. On the contrary, Poland and USA had won all their matches and were in the top of the group.

In the first match Hungary started stronger and in the beginning of the second period Norbert Duró made 3-1 lead for Hungary. After this the Netherlands started to dominate and scored four goals still in the second period so the score after 40 minutes was 3-5 to Netherlands. This situation remained all the way to the middle of the third period.

The turning point of the match was in 48.58 when Dutch Rob Labruyere took 5 minutes penalty. During this penalty Hungary scored three goals and took the lead again with score 6-5. Hungary scored one goal more one minute after the penalty ended and this was too much for the Netherlands so the match ended with score 7-5.

Read more about the match and an interview of Hungarian head coach Zsolt Ágoston and Dutch head coach Michel Hartog from the organizers web page.

The top match of Group B was tight all the way to the third period. Both USA and Poland scored after each other and in the first two periods the difference was not bigger than one goal at the time. In the last ten minutes Poland was stronger and with two goals by Daniel Girys Poland took 6-3 victory over USA.

With these points Poland secured the first place in Group D. This is an excellent performance from a team which played in the C-division in the previous World Championships. In the B-division semi-final Poland will meet Austria.

Read more about the match and the interview of USA player Fabian Länzlinger.

Czech Republic won Latvia in a tough match

In Group A Czech Republic played a match against Latvia. The stakes were high, the winner would get an advantage in the battle for the two places in the semi-finals.

Latvia got a great start for the match, when Ingus Laivins scored already in the second minute of the match. In the middle of the first period the Czechs had a good patch when they scored two goals in one minute. The result in the first intermission was 2-1 to Czech Republic.

The beginning of the second period was identical compared to the first as Ingus Laivins scored again when two minutes were played. However, after some minutes, Tomás Chrápek scored another goal for Czechs and they took the lead 3-2.

The start of the third period was hectic, there were three goals scored during the first two minutes. After these goals Czech Republic had the lead 5-3 and that score remained also as the final score. The best players were Laivins from Latvia and Ales Zálesný from Czech Republic.

Read more about the match and the interviews of the Czech player Ales Jakubek, Czech coach Zdenek Skruzný and Latvian player Ingus Laivins from the organizers web page.

Finland´s defence impressive against Switzerland

The last B-group match was an unusual floorball game as no goals were scored during the first 35 minutes. Both teams played very strict defence and seemed to look for the opponents mistakes. Finland was however the team with more creativity, creating better scoring opportunities, which also the shots on goal (7-1) indicated, but no goal in the first period.

Switzerland had a power play opportunity in the second period, but the Swiss could not utilise the opportunity. The Kohonen brothers, Mikko Kohonen and Mika Kohonen, could however take advantage of a quick free hit, which seemed to surprise the Swiss players, 1-0 for Finland in 35.35.  The first goal opened the game and the play started to move from one side to the other.

In the third period, Harri Forstens fore checking was effective, and he could steal the ball in the Swiss end and pass to Mikael Järvi, who increased Finland´s lead with a neat lift. Tero Tiitu scored the third for Finland in 54.40 and as the Swiss pressured during the last minutes without the goalie, one of the best players of the game, Mikko Kohonen, could score his second of the night. 4-0 was the final score.

If Finland wins the match against Norway tomorrow, Finland will be 1st and Switzerlad 2nd in group B.

Mikael Järvi (FIN) and Roger Tönz  (SUI) were awarded as best players.  Read more about the match and the interviews of the best players of the match Roger Tönz and Mikael Järvi.

Pictures: WFC 2008 organiser