3rd February

Japan & Singapore winners in AOFC WFCQ

The Japanese team outran their opponent in the first Asian & Oceanian WFC Qualification game and defeated Australia with 6-2. Also the highest ranked (15th) Singapore could win their first match against Korea with 10-2.

Japan scored the first two goals after breakdowns in the Aussies passing play, which resulted in two brilliantly executed counter attacks and goals.

The player of the game, Taisuke Yasuno, scored two more goals for Japan before Carl Lowenborg scored the first for Australia in the second period. As the Japanese players were both faster and more technical than their opponent they could win their first match with a four goal difference, 6-2.

Taisuke Yasuno (pictured) & Jonathan Veron were awarded as best players.

Singapore crushed Korea in the second period

In the second match the home team, Singapore, was the favourite against Korea. It was however Jong Suk Shin, who is playing for FBC Linköping in Sweden, that scored the first goal of the match for Korea.

Jovyn Hock Teck Low evened the score with a long distance shot and then the brothers, Hafeez Mohd Kassim and Ahmad Afzal Mohd Kassim, took Singapore to a 2-1 lead after some brilliant passing play.

Hafeez Mohd Kassim scored his second and the 5-1 goal for Singapore in the second period and the match was settled. Singapore will go for their second victory tomorrow against Malaysia at 16:00 (9:00 CET) and Korea will challenge Australia in the evening match at 19:00 (12:00 CET).

Jong Suk Shin and Johnson Sivalingam were awarded as best players.

4th February

Korea & Australia played a tie – 2nd victory for Singapore

Singapore had no trouble in taking another clear victory in the AOFC WFC Qualification when they defeated Malaysia with 24 goals, 25-1 was the final score.

Korea and Australia played a physical and tough match which ended in a tie 3-3.

Singapore settled the match already in the first period as the score was 11-0 after 20 minutes. Timothy Quek (pictured #99) was the sharpest finisher and scored five goals. Chong Guan Low scored Malaysia´s only goal when he broke free from the Singaporean defence.

The prettiest goal was however scored by Oswind Suriya Rosayro (pictured #12) when he utilized a free-hit situation and placed the ball in the top corner with some fancy zorro moves.
– The Zorro is my speciality, I have practiced it for a few years. Yesterday I missed a similar chance but today my moves succeeded.

Singapore has now collected two victories and is likely to qualify to the WFC Final.
– Our team has improved a lot and I as well as the team have trained very much. Our toughest opponent is Japan, but with hard team work, I think we will be able to defeat them. We want to win the tournament, but the biggest aim is to qualify to the WFC Final round, Oswind continued.

Timothy Quek & Jin Keet Cheang  were awarded as best players.

The Qualification is still open

As three teams will qualify to the WFC Final round from the Asia & Oceania Qualification, the match between the 3rd and 4th seeded teams was an important one. This was quite visible as there were a lot of penalties and the boards needed to be corrected more than once, as players were flying over the rink.

Australia scored the first two goals, the first after some nice passing play and the second through Anthony Boteler´s heavy long distance shot on power play. This remained the score until the third period until Korea had plenty of chances to reduce the lead.

In the third period Korea finally got the ball into the net, but during the Korean power play Boteler scored Australia´s third goal. Korea´s next power play was more efficient and Jong Suk Shin reduced the lead to one goal again. Korea´s continuous hard work paid off and in 54.31 Baek Hee Lee evened the score to 3-3.

Kim Sang Ki and Boteler were awarded as best players.

5th February

Japan took their 2nd victory and Singapore qualified to the final round

Japan took their second victory defeating Malaysia 11-1 having decided the match in the 2nd period. Singapore won against Australia 8-4 after a very even and well played match in front of an ecstatic crowd.

Malaysia played better defensively compared to yeterday´s game and was able to keep Japan out of the best scoring sectors in the start of the match.

The difference in both the tactical as well as the technical skills was however obvious and Japan could settle the match in the second period.

Naoki Matsuba scored a hat trick already in the second period and also Yuki Tsudome was effective with 2+1. Tsudume and Kien Teck Low who scored the only goal for Malaysia were awarded as the best players.

Singapore qualified to the final round

Singapore seized the chance to secure a spot in the WFC final round but their opponent still has the possibility to qualify.
Australia took the lead 1-0 in the first period and used an early power play in the second to increase the lead to 2-0. With two quick goals in the 27th minute Singapore closed the gap and also took over the lead when Sean Hung scored one of his four goals on a quick shot from the slot position after 37:28.
Half a minute later Singapore got a 2 minute bench penalty and again Australia scored a powerplay goal to equalize to 3-3.
After the period break the match continued to be even – Australia regained the lead after 41:44 but already 30 seconds later Singapore equalized and thereafter the remaining goals were scored by Singapore.

6th February

Korea in a good position and Japan qualified

Korea won their first match defeating Malaysia 10-2 putting themselves in a good position. Singapore and Japan shared the points after 2-2 after yet again an even match in front of a great crowd.

It took Korea 45 minutes of hard work to secure the victory versus Malaysia but in the last 15 minutes they scored 6 goals also giving them a good position in the fight for a spot in the final round. Best scorer for Korea was Baek Hee Lee who scored 4 goals, three of them in the last 10 minutes.

Malaysia´s goals were both scored by Chiam Ter Min who also was elected best player of his team.  Seo Kyong Hoon was selected best player of Korea.

Japan qualified to the final round

Already when Korea defeated Malaysia a place in the final round was secured for Japan so both teams could put their focus on winning the tournament.
Even though there were only four goals scored the match was very open with a constant flow of chances in both directions. The draw, after a late equalizer from Japan, means that Singapore has a good chance to win the qualification.

7th February

Singapore won the AOFC Qualification and Australia took the last spot

Japan defeated Korea 6-4 and finished 2nd in the WFCQ in Singapore. Australia needed to win against Malaysia with 7 goals to take the last spot to the WFC Final Round and managed to win with 10-0. Therefore the qualified teams in ranking order from AOFC WFCQ are Singapore, Japan and Australia.

Having lost the 1st period 1-0 Korea then turned the match in the 2nd and went into a two-goals lead 4-2.

Japan came back to the match in the 3rd period scoring 3-4 already after 23 seconds. The the hero of the match, Naoki Matsuba, started his scoring at 54:45 with the equalizer and at 59:14 he had completed a hat trick taking Japan to a 6-4 victory and the 2nd place in the qualification.

Australia seized the last spot

Since Korea lost to Japan the possibility for Australia to qualify was still open. It required a win vs Malaysia with 7 goals. The goals didn´t come easy but in the last period the Aussies could run away to an easy win taking them to the WFC Final round. Successful players in the match today were Christopher O´Sullivan who scored 4 goals and Jonathan Veron who had 5 assists.