The semi-finals of the World Championship will offer the surprise posters United States – Germany and Canada – Latvia on Saturday in Tampere. The Latvians managed the feat of taking Sweden out (3-1).
KEYSTONE
Latvia has achieved the greatest feat in its young history by reaching the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time. In front of their passionate audience in Riga, the players of Harris Vitolinch, ex-Chur, managed to take the measure of a Scandinavian team, very dull and in certain lack of NHL stars.
With the “Swiss” Toms Andersons (La Chaux-de-Fonds) and Deniss Smirnovs (Geneva-Servette), the Latvians won with a disconcerting shots statistic since the Swedes shot 41 times against 15 (!) only for the Baltics. A lesson in realism for the Scandinavians, who had already left the competition at the same stage last year against Canada.
Host country Finland presented a team without much soul in Tampere. His beautiful first line Martikainen – Rantanen – Manninen did not weigh heavily against the envy of the Canadians. Once again, the selection with the maple leaf, even composed of second knives of the NHL, shows that it is always faithful to go and dispute the world title. Saturday, the North Americans will find Latvia which they had crushed 6-0 at the opening of the World Cup.
USA impress
The United States continues to impress at the World Championship. The only undefeated team in the preliminary round, the US selection won without discussion in the quarter-finals 3-0 against coach Kari Jalonen’s Czech Republic. Abrupt defeat for the Czechs, who will host the World Championship in 2024 (Prague and Ostrava).
In front of 7411 spectators in Tampere, the American goals were scored by Matt Coronato (13th), Nick Perbix (29th) and Cutter Gauthier (50th). The Americans thus took their revenge on the final for 3rd place last year which saw them lose 8-4 against this same Czech Republic. In the semi-finals, the Americans will face Germany.
sfy, ats
2023-05-25 16:41:00
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