Australia has won the AOFC WFC 2018 qualification tournament, defeating Singapore by 5-4. 3rd place went to Japan who beat Thailand 8-1.
Finals can sometimes not always be the best games of a tournament as teams try their best not to lose, but today, with the teams already qualified for WFC 2018, there was just a great desire from both teams to win and they put on great show. A fast, physical and exciting way to end the tournament. Australia & Singapore traded goals throughout the game, and when Singapore took the lead in the last period it was the first time that Australia had been behind on the scoreboard for the whole week. They responded well to the challenge. Singapore put a lot of pressure on the Australian goal in the last period, while at the other end it was the Australian counter-attack and their ability to score from the rebounds that won them the game.
3rd place went to Japan who played a dominant game against Thailand. The result surprised many as Thailand have been one of the strongest scoring teams at the event, but today Japan stopped their attacking play quite brilliantly. They cut off passes, blocked shots and gave the star Thai forwards little space to move and create goals. The Japanese defence was equally supported by their attack. The bounce of the ball went Japan´s way all game and they made the most of it, finishing with 8-1.
5th place was taken by hosts, Korea, who had a strong win over New Zealand. Korea have had a tough home tournament – they were in a strong group with Australia & Thailand who were always going to be very tough opponents, added to that they had a lot of emotions to manage after the death of one of the player´s mothers during the week. They finally found some shots that hit the net and the energy to keep up their game for the whole 60 minutes. New Zealand have played very well this week and their 6th place finish is their best result. The work they have done in developing players at junior level is starting to show rewards for them.
Thank you to all of the volunteers from Jeju Island and the Korean Floorball Federation. A great event.
Match replays are available on IFF YouTube Channel 1 and photos on Flickr.
For all results and statistics visit the WFCQ 2018 AOFC Event page.
