U19 WFC 2016 - Finland and Sweden, Canada and Germany to play for gold

Day four in the WU19 WFC 2016 was semi-final day, as well as time for some of the placement matches. When the day was over it was Finland & Sweden to play for gold in A-division, while a replay of Canada v Germany from the group stage will decide the B-division winner.

In the first game of the day Thailand outplayed Austria who looked tired despite having had the day off yesterday. Thailand have gone from strength to strength in this tournament and finished on a high with a 17-2 victory. Next up was one of the most important play-off matches, that for 7th place. This game gives the winner the right to stay in A-division for the next Women´s U19 WFC, while the loser is relegated to B-division. Slovakia and Latvia were the teams battling it out, and it was the Slovaks who won 9-5.

The first of the B-division semis was between Germany & Hungary. Hungary had the best of the first period and led by 2, but after that Germany closed their defence tight and 5 unanswered goals saw them secure a final spot where they will meet Canada who easily disposed of their semi-final opponent, USA, with 11-2. The B-final will be a rematch of the thrilling group game between these two teams which Canada won in the last minute. The winner of the B Division will be promoted to A Division for the WU19 WFC 2018.

In A-division, the semi-finals started slowly with Finland struggling to break through against Switzerland. Injuries to some key players in the Finnish team seemed to have disrupted their usual tempo, and the Swiss were challenging them strongly. However, the Finns prevailed with a final score of 5-1. Sweden had yet to face an opponent who troubled them, but today Czech Republic proved a different story. Their defence held the Swedes to finding the net just 5 times – an admirable effort against a team who had averaged 13 goals per game so far in this event.

The other placement game today was for Norway and Poland, playing for 5th place. At the half-way point in the match Norway looked comfortable with a 5-0 lead, but Poland fought on and brought the game back to 5-4. Unfortunately, for them, they couldn´t get the equaliser and force the game to overtime and so it was Norway that finished in 5th & Poland 6th.

Tomorrow will see trophies and tears as the 2016 U19 Women´s WFC comes to an end.

For full stories on all of the matches visit the official event website: www.floorball2016.ca

Photos from all of the matches can be found on IFF Flickr