Third day at the Men’s World Floorball Championships 2022 AOFC qualifications offered us many exciting matches. Philippines and Thailand were the first teams to secure their tickets to the final round in Switzerland.
Group G
Japan v Korea
Both teams were eager to get some points from this match as both Korea and Japan had lost their matches against Philippines and Australia. Korea got a strong start to the match by taking a 3-0 lead in the first period. Max Parbrand scored two of the goals. Japan came back to the game in the second period and at 19.20, Hiromasa Saegusa equalised the game. Some minutes later, Tae Woo Kim took Korea in the lead again and they stayed in the lead until very last minute of the game. Saegusa tied the game with his second and the first draw of this event was reality. Final score 4-4.
Match statistics available here.
Philippines v Australia
Both teams had been victorious at the WFCQ so far, so this match was an important one as the winner would qualify for WFC 2022. After first period, the score was 1-1 but the Philippines captain Lucas Oijvall Perez scored his into the lead. Philippines also got another goal, this one because of a very unfortunate own goal. In the final period, Kim Franz Varga scored on powerplay and although Tomas Gartner scored one more for Australia, just four second after Varga’s goal, it was not enough. Philippines celebrated their qualification, final score 4-2 for Team Philippines.
Match statistics available here.
Group H
Malaysia v New Zealand
Same setup as in the first match of the day, both Malaysia and New Zealand were after their first win in the event. Although Tristan James Desmond Dass started the scoring for Malaysia, it were the New Zealand player who got to shine in the first period and the score was 4-1 by the second period. But the second period was won by Malaysia. Both teams continued scoring in the third period, but Malaysia were not able to even the game anymore. New Zealand players Alec Stewart, Russell Hirst, Archie Cosslett and Timothy McKibbin all scored their first goals in the senior national team during this game. Final score 7-5 for New Zealand. This was the first win for the New Zealand men’s team in an international match.
Match statistics available here.
Singapore v Thailand
The two best teams of Group H met in the last match of the day. This match could have also been the Men’s AOFC Cup final as these teams have met before many times before. At WFC 2020, Thailand beat Singapore 11-6. Also in this game, Thailand brought their A game on site. Thailand were leading the game 3-0 after the first period and continued scoring three goals in all periods. Singapore managed to score once in the last period but the game was already over. Pawat Thaidit and Theerawat Noisai both scored a hat-trick and final score 9-1 for Thailand. As the winners of Group H, Thailand qualified for the final round.
Match statistics available here.
Find all match replays, highlights and interviews from IFF YouTube Channel 1.
Photos are available here.
