2008 WUC Floorball: Day 2
November 7th, 2008
LAT vs. HUN
SWE vs. CZE
Sweden Did It Again in a Thriller!
Already the first minutes of play promised that the audience was about to see an intense encounter between these two floorball superpowers. Czech Republic took the lead with an early goal by Petr Kadlec but Sweden came back with John Lehnberg scoring on a power play. Both teams had high stakes in the match and it showed as the tempo was high. The Czech team was a little bit more in control, scoring once more and winning the first period 2-1. In spite of the early starting time the match had attracted quite a few spectators to the Kuortane Sports Arena. The atmosphere was hectic as the young supporters cheered for both teams. Sweden got off to a dream start in the second with an equalizer at 20.17 by Karl Strömberg. There was no time nor space on the court as the both teams used all of their speed and talent. Czechs managed to utilize their opportunities better to take the lead 3-2 by Martin Zozulak. As the match progressed Czech Republic seemed to find their rhythm better. They looked like a real team as the passes found each other smoothly. After a a few shots in a row on goal bars the Czechs finally succeeded and moved in to a 5-3 lead in the third period. Sweden narrowed the gap when Henrik Thomsen`s shot from their own defending zone surprised Czech goalie Jakub Korab. Martin Zozulak`s hat trick wasn`t enough for Czechs to win today as Sweden came back from 6-4 to 6-6. Sweden`s trademark - a late comeback - was once again efficient. Peter Sundelin even had a chance to seal a win for Sweden but he missed his penalty shoot.
JPN vs. FIN
Japan is Far Away from Finland
After two games played by both teams there was not a close game in prospect. Sufficing the expectations Finland played with such a big dominance on the match, they also started scoring early. In the first and the second half they had most of the possession and had no problem with scoring. The mainly defensive Japan had dangerous counter-attacks with three of them ending with a goal. In the second period Finland started to save some valuable energy for the followings, so they played with less and less players and less and less efforts. In the third period seemingly the main job for team Finland was to wait till the final whistle. That meant more space and more opportunities for the Japanese. But they did not manage to score more goals and in the last ten minutes Finnish found their goal-scoring stick again and scored four other goals without any significant effort taken. Japan made a good defence in the whole game, a better one then for example Hungary took, but sometimes it resulted a bit too passivity in attacks. In the home team Oliver Wardi had a good match with taking part in so many successful attacks while the Japanese Tamura Kodei was so active in the attacking half, but Japan`s strong point was the organized defence.
SUI vs. JPN
Switzerland Cruised Past Japan
The basic position in the game was crystal clear as Switzerland totally had the control and Japan bravely defended their own goal. In the first period Japan`s strategy worked relatively well and they had enough strength to run all over the rink. Nevertheless, Switzerland moved in to a well-deserved 0-2 lead after the first period. Japan`s tremendous team spirit and couple of well-structured counter attacks were not enough as the Swiss players were superior in speed, power and skills. Thanks to Japan`s world class goalkeeper Switzerland couldn`t score before Andrea Stäubli`s beautiful shot in to the upper corner of the goal. The difference between these two teams was evident but the Japanese could keep the numbers bearable by fighting hard for every ball. On the other hand Switzerland was able to rest some of their players for the upcoming matches. The encounter offered hardly any finesses to the audience but Switzerland did what it was supposed to and took the points home with a 8-0 win. At the end of the match the Japanese were seemingly tired and Switzerland could embellish the result with some easy goals.
Finland Dominates, Sweden Scores
The other women`s match today at Kuortane Sports Arena was a mouth-watering clash between old rivals Sweden and Finland. At the same time the match presented two strong contenders for the title. Sweden silenced the home audience by scoring in their first attack. After the poor start Finland somehow managed to get back in the game but Sweden still produced better opportunities to score more goals. In the middle of Finnish domination the Swedes passed up a skillful counter attack and Lina Arvidsson swept them in to a 2-0 lead. The importance of the match was obvious as the emotions occasionally burst out. Although Finland had more shots on goal Sweden seemed to have a bit more complete package, especially their defence was strong. The difference wasn`t huge but Finland mainly failed to capitalize their numerous opportunities. Finally Finns gave the fans something to cheer about when Laura Karjula fired the opening goal in the second period. As the game went on Finland improved, putting more pressure on Sweden`s defence. In the beginning of the decider Finland had their chances to equalize but Sweden`s best player goalkeeper Malin Marklund displayed some crucial saves. Soon afterwards Sweden once again taught Finns how to score goals when Louise Bäcke succeeded. Finland never gave up and they narrowed the gap with a "goal of the tournament" when Eliisa Alanko scored after a great pass combination. Despite the good fight Finland put up in the end Sweden took home the important victory 3-2.
Daily Results
Men's Tournament LAT vs. HUN: 19-1 CZE vs. SWE: 6-6 JPN vs. FIN: 3-18 FIN vs. LAT: 6-3 HUN vs. CZE: 2-35 SWE vs. JPN: 32-2 Women's Tournament SUI vs. JPN: 8-0 SWE vs. FIN: 3-2 More info at www.wucfloorball2008.com.
