2008 WUC Floorball: Day 3 of Competition
November 8th, 2008
Team Sweden did its Part
The situation before the final round of the group matches was the following: If Czech Republic manages to get a point against Finland, we have Finland - Czech Republic final, otherwise the name of Finland`s final opponent is decided on goal dirrerence. But if Sweden increases their goal difference by more then 24, they can do their part. And they did, so it is just up on the Czechs and the Finnish. The whole game was highly dominated by the Swedish, Hungary had very few attacks and almost no scoring chances. Team Sweden was very accurate, they just wanted to score enough. Hungary had a much better performance then against the Czechs, they did the defence seriously this time, and they were concentrating till the last minute, when Zoltan Klinghammer scored a nice goal making the Hungarian team so happy with the good closing moment of the tournament. In the side of the Hungarians Zoltan Klinghammer gets the MoM mark for his nice goal and the lot of work done while the Swedish captain, John Lenberg organized the play well. The Swedish has the hope now that Finland beats the Czechs, Hungary finished in 6th place.
Latvia in Bronze Medal Match
A place in the men`s bronze medal match was at stake when Japan and Latvia met at Kuortane Sports Arena. It looked like Latvia was cruising towards an easy win (and it did) but the Japanese fans got something to cheer about when Fukuta Hishinuma scored 1-3. Japan`s team spirit and sportsmanship were again admirable, they only lacked the skills to cause more difficulties to the Latvians. Team Latvia`s tempo and physical style of play was too strong for the Japanese. Finally, Latvia easily booked their place in tomorrow`s bronze medal match with a 3-17 win. The opponent will be either Sweden or Czech Republic.
Finland trained scoring against Japan
The ride for Japan was as cold as the weather outside when Finland gave them a lesson on floorball. Japan followed their tactics to protect their own goal but it didn't work that well. There was neither effort to control the ball nor to organize any attacks. The Finns broke the barrier of defence early in the match moving into a 4-0 lead. The Finnish domination was so obvious it looked like they were having a power play all the time even though they did not. Japan came in to the second period with totally another attitude and they even had some counter attacks. The penalty shot at 29.36 was historic as Yui Takahashi fired Japan`s first goal in the tournament. The celebration ended quickly when Finland stepped up their tempo to make it 13-1 after the second period. Today the Finnish squad was simply better in every aspect of the game. Japan had no means to threaten Finland and they finally lost the match 15-1. The Finns will now have to wait and see the result of the match between Sweden and Switzerland to know if they get to play in the final.
Daily Results
Men's Tournament HUN vs. SWE: 0-29 JPN vs. LAT: 3-17 CZE vs. FIN: 6-4 Women's Tournament FIN vs. JPN: 15-1 SWE vs. SUI: 4-4 More info on www.wucfloorball2008.com.
SWE vs. SUI
Sweden and Switzerland to take a Rematch in the Final
The last match of the women`s group stage saw Sweden taking on Switzerland. The Swedes had already booked their place in the final but Switzerland needed at least a tie to make it to the gold medal match. Switzerland came into the match with a good attitude, ready to fight for the win. After Switzerland took the lead with Sandra Hadorn`s goal at 7.03 Sweden seemed to find their rhythm. Nina Helas Wallin showed some virtuosity to bring Sweden back in the game with a beautiful shot. Although Sweden used the opportunity to rest some of their players for the final their performance was still of high level. Switzerland had to use more of their energy but it was rewarded when they took the lead in the beginning of the second period. Sweden`s better ball handling abilities were one of the reasons why they controlled the game towards the end of the period. Despite of many scoring opportunities it wasn`t until the end of the second period that Madeleine Ellila equalized. One of the best players in the tournament broke away on a Swiss power play to score. In the third period Switzerland put a lot of pressure on Sweden`s defence trying to win all the duels in the rink. The aggressive style of play paid off in the half way of the period when Andrea Streiff had the honour to take Switzerland once again in to a lead. At one stage Switzerland led already 2-4 but it wasn`t enough to win as Sweden (surprisingly!) scored back-to-back goals to make it 4-4. Nevertheless, the result meant that the teams will take a rematch in the final.
Daily Bulletin
Bulletin 08.11.2008
