The Czech Republic, the six-time ice hockey world champion and bold host of those championships, flexed its muscle groups and inflicted a 0.4 (0:1, 0:2, 0:1) defeat on Austria’s nationwide workforce.
That is no purpose to bury your head within the sand. “The distinction to the video games towards Canada (6:7 after additional time) and Finland (3:2) was that we did not rating any objectives,” defined head coach Roger Bader, who was, nevertheless, typically happy together with his gamers’ efficiency. Particularly within the second interval, up till the double strike inside 64 seconds on the finish of the interval (thirty sixth, thirty seventh).
“We had been overrun within the first interval, however we had some good moments within the second. 12:7 photographs for us – that exhibits the way it went,” stated the 59-year-old Swiss. “With a 1:1, which might have been effectively deserved, it may need been thrilling.”
One factor is obvious: “We do not have to be embarrassed.” As quantity 16 on the planet rankings, you may lose towards the Czech Republic – even by this margin and particularly in entrance of this crowd. The O2 Area in Prague was utterly bought out with 17,413 followers, and the environment was correspondingly excessive. “It is a nice expertise for all of the gamers and likewise for us coaches. We have not skilled this fairly often. It is nice,” stated Bader, who’s now specializing in the subsequent group match on Sunday (4:20 p.m., ORF Sport+) towards Norway.
Picture: gepa
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Picture: gepa
Underneath sure circumstances, a win might safe survival earlier than the ultimate duel with Nice Britain on Tuesday (12.20 p.m., ORF Sport+). “We need to win. We’ll see what the result’s. It is only a distraction. We need to focus on the efficiency,” stated Bader. When requested whether or not the primary prime ten placement since 1994 was a fascinating World Cup aim, he toned down his assertion: “I will be very completely happy if we’re within the prime 14. Let’s keep modest.” And targeted.
Psychological fatigue shouldn’t be an excuse: “Everybody has that.” Preparing for Norway doesn’t require something particular: “There are not any secrets and techniques. Everybody is aware of all the things about everybody,” says Bader. This match has lengthy been performed with open playing cards.
“The Czech Republic performed easy ice hockey, we’ve got to take that with us and apply it towards nations which might be supposedly on the identical stage,” stated captain Thomas Raffl: “All of the gamers are excited to be there and are proud to play for Austria. We all know that we’re taking part in towards prime nations. We left all the things out. Possibly we did not have the freshness like we did towards Finland, however there needs to be no excuse towards Norway.”
Striker Manuel Ganahl paid tribute to the Czechs: “It is a tremendous workforce. They need to win in any respect prices and saved their foot on the fuel for 60 minutes,” defined the long run Graz 99ers participant: “We saved the match open for a very long time. You do not beat opponents of this caliber each day. We did a number of issues proper and may take positives with us for the Norway match.”
Vinzenz Rohrer, Swiss champion with the ZSC Lions, was impressed by the environment: “It was a brutal environment within the corridor, within the matches earlier than the viewers was all the time for us,” reported the 19-year-old.