After today´s results the possible qualifiers has become a little clearer but still far from decided. In Group A, the qualification spot will come down to the final match of the group between Hungary & Slovenia. Things in Group B are a little less clear with Estonia, Spain & Netherlands all still in with a chance.
France v Estonia started the day off and it was a fantastic game. As France are playing their first ever U19 WFC event they are yet to even receive a ranking, but you wouldn´t have known it when they came ever so close to upsetting the 12th ranked country in the world in Men´s U19s. Estonia were stunned in the first period by Hugo Botton and Thomas Courtet who combined to score four goals. Botton´s solo effort (his fourth for the period) gave France a 5-1 lead at the first break. The second went the other way with Estonia winning it 5-1, with Kermo Uue stepping up for his team with 2+2 in the period. 
With the scores locked at 6-6, both defences tightened and the goal-fest of the first two periods changed into a much different game. Estonia broke the deadlock and with their far more experienced players it seemed that they would score again to secure the win, but France dug in and kept up their attack. They were awarded a penalty shot with just over a minute on the clock and Botton, as cool as you like, walked the ball to the goal and just snapped it past the keeper. No drag, nothing fancy, just a simple straight shot into the net. 7-7. But disaster struck for France with just seconds left in the game. The goalkeeper played the ball back to his defenders who were immediately pressured by the Estonian forwards who stole the ball and Uue snuck it into the goal. A heartbreaking 8-7 loss for France, a lucky escape for Estonia.
The tone of the Slovenia v Belgium game was set in the first minute when Slovenia scored their first from a penalty shot and then 14 seconds later a second to lead 2-0 after just 1:07. Slovenia have looked very strong in all their matches. Their players looked comfortable with the ball and cope well under pressure, making good passing and shot decisions. Belgium struggled to stop their opponents attack and with Slovenia being able to move the ball out of their own area with ease, the Belgian defence was under constant pressure. The Slovenians steadily added goals while the Belgiums only had moments of challenging. You only need to look at the goalkeeper saves to get a picture of the game – Slovenia 7, Belgium 37. A very comfortable 11-4 victory for Slovenia.
The match between Austria & Hungary was a ´nothing special to report´ kind of game. Hungary looked relaxed and with little real danger coming from the Austrian attack they were able to play at a tempo that was just enough to maintain control of the game and win – the only thing they needed to do. Only allowing three goals in showed that Austria´s defence was much stronger than Hungary´s last opponent, Great Britain, but the game seemed to lack a little enthusiasm from either team. A 3-0 win sees Hungary looking to the final game of the group against Slovenia to decide who will go to Växjö, Sweden, next year for the Men´s U19 WFC.
Spain against Netherlands rounded off the day and this was an important game for two teams who are in the challenge for a qualification spot. Spain were in a must-win situation and that´s exactly what they did, with what was, in the end, a dominant performance. The Dutch scored in the first minute, but Spain didn´t let it affect their own game and when they scored three goals in the space of just a couple of minutes their belief that they could win was set. Like the Slovenians earlier in the day, they just steadily added goals to the scoreboard and opened up a large lead. The second period belonged to the goalkeepers as they shut down a lot of the scoring and both made some spectacular saves. As the gap between the teams widened the frustration of the Dutch players grew and their concentration dropped. The final score of 10-3 doesn´t truly reflect the close match that it really was. If just a few small things had gone differently for the Netherlands – a better pass here or there, a shot that found the net rather than the post – the result could´ve been different. However, full credit to Spain, who stood up when it was needed and are now in a really good position to qualify, but their fate will lie in the results of other matches.
For all of the match results & statistics visit the IFF Event page. All of the matches are being streamed live and replays of the games can be watched on IFF YouTube Channel 1 and photos can be viewed on IFF Flickr.
