Hungary did enough, Germany qualify (or do they?), and Austria just get the win.
Today´s results have given us the first qualifier for the Men´s U19 WFC 2019 to be played from 8th – 12th May 2019 in Halifax, Ontario, Canada. Germany will finish top of the group and qualify to the final round. Even if they lose their last group match and Austria win, which would put them on equal points, Germany will qualify courtesy of winning the group match between the two teams.
In the opening game of the day, Hungary took the points in their game against Great Britain. They did not post as big a score as some other teams have done against this opponent, but they got the win which was the most important thing. Great Britain played strongly today and worked hard to keep the score low. It´s not easy to keep concentrating when you are constantly under pressure in your own area but they did a good job with playing much tighter defence and then trying to turn the game quickly but their final passes and shooting accuracy let them down. The 6-1 win for Hungary sets them up for a final showdown tomorrow against Austria to decide the second team in the group. The second spot is important as there will be three teams from Europe who qualify – the winners of each group plus the best 2nd placed team.
Germany almost didn´t make it to their match today, getting stuck in traffic due to a road closure through the mountains. The disruption to their pre-game preparations was hardly noticeable – in fact it was their best start to a game yet – going 2-0 up after 3 minutes. The Dutch had little reply to the strength and skill of the Germans. Like the British they have been forced to play a lot of their matches camped around their own defensive goal which is never much fun. However, the Dutch should not be too disappointed – this was an extremely tough opponent who were deserved 11-0 winners. Germany will be amongst the top ranked teams in B-division at the U19 WFC next year and will be looking to win it, something which they have come very close to in the past. In both 2013 & 2015 they lost the final….in overtime. They´ll certainly be looking to change that story ending in Halifax in 2019.
The final match of the day was between Austria and Italy. Before the game began, most expected that with a win today, Austria and Hungary would be playing tomorrow for the second place, however, Italy had different expectations. They attacked strongly and did well to block plenty of Austrian shots early. A strong rebound shot found the net for the Italians and then 15 seconds later they had a second. The Austrians showed strong character and responded quickly. Early in the second period they had already equalised. The 3-2 winning goal came at 55 minutes and was scored from a really good movement by Niklas Fechtig near to the Italian goal and a perfect pass to him from the corner by Niklas Felsberger. Italy came very close to their first win but Austria hold on for another day.
Match statistics can be found here.
Photos are available on Flickr and match replays on YouTube.
