3rd February

Full house of spectators witnessed Spanish victory

Three matches were played in Spain on Wednesday and the winners of the first day were Italy, Estonia and Spain.

The fourth match between Slovakia and Georgia ended with a walk over since the Georgian team did not arrive to the match. This meant 5-0 victory to Slovakia. The absence was due to bad weather and storm, the flight of the Georgian team was not able to take off from Tbilisi airport. The team is expected to arrive to Spain on Thursday and this affects also to the match schedule on group C.
A full house of spectators came to see the first match of the home team. The audience was given an entertaining floorball experience as the match was tight and teams moved the ball nicely.

Aitor Bermejo exploided the crowd for the first time when he shot the ball to the Slovenian net with a one-timer after a long diagonal pass. Luca Cesar tied the match to 1-1, but only few minutes later Javier Redondo took the lead again to Spain.

In the second period the only goal was scored by Christian Peduzzi Fernandez, who increased the Spanish lead. Slovenia came back to the match when half of the third period was played. Ales Krzic shot the ball to the net and gave hope for Slovenia. After the reducing goal Spain played again sharply and only a minute later Alberto Partida decided the match for Spain. The atmosphere in the arena was great all the way to the end and the 650 spectators counted the last seconds out loud. Final score 4-2 for Spain.

The Spanish Head Coach Miguel Prieto was a pleased man after the match.
– The match was hard and tight. Slovenia is a good team, but I think the key to our victory was that we were able to create more scoring opportunities.

Although the team performed well today, Prieto turned the focus already to the coming matches.
– Our aim is to play in the qualification finals, but there are still two important matches before that. So we will have to continue the fight.

Italy entertained school kids with 7-2 victory from Netherlands

Italy made the 600 noisy school kids shout already in the first minutes as they scored twise. The young and enthuastic audience was entertained with a speedful match. Italy controlled the ball more and was able to create pressure to the Netherlands goal. Italy decided the match in second period and Simone Pellegrini was able to make 6-0 lead before Netherlands reduced the lead twice. Remy Horn (ITA) and Niek Hovius (NED) were awarded as the best players of the match.

Estonia took easy 13-0 victory over Liechtenstein

The setting was the traditional David vs Goljat, when the tournament´s highest ranked Estonia met small Liechtenstein. In the first period Liechtenstein players fought well and as the goal execution of Estonian players was not in the best possible level, the result was only 1-0 to Estonia. As the match progressed, the different skill level of the teams started to result as goals for Estonia and in the end the result was 13-0 to the Estonian team. The best players of the match were Estonia´s Henrik Talme, who produced 3+2, and Liechtenstein´s goalkeeper Alexander Näscher, who saved 41 shots.

Changes in the match schedule for Group C

Due to the late arrival of the Georgian team on Thursday, there will be changes in the match schedule. The match Georgia – Netherlands will be played at 16:30 and the first match of the day will be Italy – Slovakia, which will start at 11:00. Originally the matches were supposed to be played vice versa.

4th February

Estonia and Spain secured their place in the Qualification finals

Estonia and Spain took their second victories in group D and at the same time secured their places in the qualification finals. The mutual match tomorrow will decide the winner of the group. The top match of group C was played between Italy and Slovakia. After a tough match the final result was a draw 3-3. This leaves the group still open and lots of stakes for the Friday´s matches.

Power play goals secured a draw for Slovakia against Italy

The favourites of Group C, Italy and Slovakia met in the morning match in El Escorial. The arena was again full of school kids, who made sure the athmosphere in the match was great. Slovakia was sharp in the beginning of the match and Marian Zemen scored already after two minutes was played. After that it was Italy who controlled the match. Two Sandro´s took the lead for Italy within a minute, first Sandro Boggia evened the score and only 21 seconds later Sandro Ludolini scored 2-1.

In the whole match Italy took totally six penalties and this gave Slovakia chance to reduce the lead. The Slovakian team utilized the opportunity and with two power play goals they tied the match to 3-3 which was also the final result.

The Slovakian coach Marian Granec felt that his team had prepared well for the match.
– We had studied Italy and we knew how they will play. In the first period this did not help as our players made some mistakes and the Italian forwards which we had marked were able to score.
– As the match progressed, our players raised their level and we played well on the second and third period. It was a good performance from us since Italy as a former A-division team has more experience from the tough matches.

Easy victory for Estonia over Slovenia

The match between Estonia and Slovenia was settled already in the first period. The skillful Estonian players scored four goals and two of them while being short handed. Estonia has a wide range of effective players, today the team produced 10 goals which were shot by six different players. Slovenia was not able to pass Marek Öige in the Estonian goal and therefore the final result was 10-0 to Estonia. Best player of Estonia was Oskar Salm and the best of Slovenia the was young forward Rok Korosec.

First points to Netherlands from Georgia

Georgia missed their first match yesterday due to flight problems, but today the team was in the rink. The beginning of the match was even and both teams fought hard for the ball. As the match progressed, Netherlands took more and more ball possesioning and the good passing play performed by Dutch team started to result as goals. Especially the second period was effective for Netherlands, they scored five goals and took 9-1 lead.

The only goal shot by the Georgian team was nicely executed as Tsotne Margvelashvili broke free and placed the ball to the net. The third period ended without goals so the final result of the match was 9-1 to Netherlands. Georgian goalkeeper Joni Jamburia, who stopped 48 shots and Dutch forward Jeroen Bart, who scored 1+2, were awarded as best players of the match.

Home team Spain took second victory

The last match of the day was played between Liechtenstein and Spain. The small Liechtenstein was an underdog throughout the match, but their tight defence kept the numbers small. Antonio Saez scored the first goal for Spain in the first period and in the second period the Spanish team took 3-0 lead. The second goal was scored by Aitor Bermejo with one-timer during a power play (watch video clip on IFF Facebook page). In the third period Spain really pushed to the Liechtenstein goal, but Alexander Näscher saved 20 shots in the period and kept his net clean. Therefore the final score was 3-0 to Spain. Näscher and Spanish captain Sergio Garces were awarded as the best players of the match.

5th February

Clear victories secured qualification final places for Italy and Slovakia

The winning team was able to keep their own net clear in all four matches in WFCQ Europe 2 on Friday. The winning numbers in the matches were high and lots of spectacularly scored goals were seen. The matches also decided the qualification final pairs, the finals will be played between Estonia-Slovakia at 16:00 and Italy-Spain at 19:00.

Estonia on their own level in group D

The top match of group D was played between Estonia and Spain. The arena in El Escorial had been pretty full already in other matches, but today even more enthuastic fans arrived to see the home team challence Estonia, the favourite of the tournament.

The great support from the home crowd helped Spain in the first period and the team played on high level. Spain even got a chance for a power play five against three, but in the end it was Estonia who scored the first goal short handed. After that Estonia took more control and the skillful passing drills resulted as open goal situations, which led to nicely executed goals.

The Talme brothers were hot in this match, Kristian Talme scored 4+1 and Henrik Talme 1+4. The final result of the match was 10-0 and therefore Estonia managed to win the group without letting any balls to their own net.

The head coach of Estonia, JP Anttila, was especially pleased with the team´s defence play.
– One of our goals for the tournament was to let as few goals as possible and with that the team has exceeded the expectations since our net has been clean in all matches.

– I was glad to see how wisely the team was able to play in the leading position. We didn´t take any unnecessary risks, but played still effectively. Our first line has been performing well throughout the tournament, but now also the other lines are getting their game running and I think the wide range of scorers will be our advantage also tomorrow.

Anttila was surprised by the support that the 725 headed crowd gave to the home team.
– The audience in this tournament has been spectacular. Even today, when their own team was losing, they kept on chearing all the way to the end. The athmosphere has been great throughout the tournament.

Italy and Slovakia crushed their opponents

In group C Italy and Slovakia were fighting for the victory of the group. In the first match Italy won Georgia 20-0

This meant Slovakia should have won Netherlands with 21 goals to become the group winner. Slovakia did good job, but the time ran out and the final score against Netherlands was 16-0.

In the other match of group D Liechtenstein and Slovenia played for the third place of the group. Slovenia had the ball control most of the time and took 6-0 victory.

The placing matches in WFCQ Europe 2 will therefore be so that Slovenia and Netherlands will play for the 5th place of the tournament and Liechtenstein and Georgia for the 7th place of the tournament.

6th February

Estonia and Italy to the WFC Final round after tight matches

Estonia and Italy fought their way to the WFC Final round from WFCQ Europe 2, played in Spain. In the Qualification final 4 Estonia had to work hard to win Slovakia, but in the end they won 8-4 and took the place to the Final round.

The Qualification final 3, played between Italy and Spain, became a real thriller. Italy scored the decive goal three minutes before the end and took the spot in the Final round.

The first line secured the victory for Estonia

Estonia had played well in the WFCQ tournament and was the favourite in the Qualification final against Slovakia. The first period was however even performance and the only goal was scored by Patrik Markus for Estonia. In the beginning of the second period also Slovakia scored their opening goal, when Jan Segla evened the score.

The equalizer was the needed wake-up for the first line of Estonia, which took charge of the match after that. They scored four goals and increased the lead to 5-1. Some other team could have given up, but Slovakia continued to fight and came back to the match by reducing the lead to 5-3. Then the first line of Estonia stepped up again and with two goals they decided the match. The final score was 8-4 and therefore Estonia made their way to the WFC final round.

The head coach of Estonia, JP Anttila, gave credit to Slovakia after the match.
– Slovakia´s performance was strong today. Slovakia is a fast rising nation in Floorball, keeping in mind that 2008 they played still in C-division. Now we had to fight against them all the way to the end. Our plan was to play with three lines, but Slovakia forced us to play with only two best lines.

Concerning the qualification tournament as a whole, Anttila was pleased with his team´s playing level.
– Our main goal was to play good Floorball and I feel that we succeeded in that. Our goalkeeper Marek Öige played good tournament, he kept his goal clean in two group matches and also took some important saves today.

In the WFC final round Estonia will play in group C with Sweden, Germany and 3rd qualified team from Asian qualification (Korea or Australia).

Italy won the thrilling match against Spain

The Qualification final between Italy and Spain was played in front of totally packed arena, there was 816 noisy Spanish spectators inside the arena. The teams entertained the audience with a thrilling match, which was decided only in the last minutes.

The first period was even play and two goals were seen. Home crowd was pleased, when Victor Sanchez scored the first goal of the match. The equaliser for Italy was shot by Remy Horn.

Spain took more control of the match in the second period. The good pressure did not however resulted in goals and the score remained 1-1 after two periods. In the third period Enrique Gomez exploided the full arena by scoring the 2-1 lead to Spain. The joy from this goal was however short as already after ten seconds Simone Pellegrini equalized for 2-2.

The ball control remained with Spain, but the pressure did not pay off and it was Italy who succeeded. The decisive goal was shot by Remy Horn after a sharp counter attack. The excitement remained to the last seconds as Spain got a power play only two minutes before the end. The power play did not succeed and instead of a equalizer, Simone Pellegrini shot 4-2 to the empty net.

The victory confirmed the place in the WFC Final round for Italy. Italy will play in group D with Czech Republic, Norway and 2nd team from Asian qualification (Singapore or Japan).