Austria vs Switzerland. What will the Swiss team show in the game against the outsider of the group?
Participants of Group A, the national teams of Austria and Switzerland, will hold a head-to-head match on May 12. The meeting will take place in Prague, on the ice of the local O2 Arena.
The Austrian team is already holding its third World Championship in the elite division, which is a unique achievement for this team. Over the past 20 years, the Austrian national team has regularly qualified for the elite division, but it has not been able to stay there for more than a season. A year ago, at the World Championships held in Latvia and Finland, the Austrian team with great difficulty retained their registration in the elite division. The Austrians lost six out of seven matches in the group stage, but with a single victory they managed to leave last place. The victory was won over a direct competitor, the Hungarian national team, only in a series of post-match shootouts.
Now in the fight for survival, the Austrians' main competitors will be the national teams of Great Britain and Norway. There is no need to expect a qualitative breakthrough from the Austrians; the composition of the national team is largely the same as last year’s. The main star of the Austrian team is twenty-two-year-old forward Marco Rossi, who scored 40 points (21+19) in games for Minnesota last season. Before the start of the championship, the Austrians played 9 control matches, managing to win only one of them; the German team was beaten with a score of 2-1.
Switzerland
Unlike its opponent, the Swiss team is one of the most progressive in world hockey, currently occupying 7th place in the IIHF ranking. Over the past ten years, the Swiss have reached the final of the World Championship twice and both times lost in the fight for gold medals, and in both cases the opponent in the final was the Swedish team. A year ago, the Swiss team passed the group stage perfectly, finishing in first place with 19 points. All the more unexpected was the result of the quarterfinal match against the German national team, in which the Swiss sensationally lost with a score of 1-3.
Now the coaching staff of the national team, led by Patrick Fischer, has brought to the Czech Republic quite an age group, where representatives of the NHL traditionally stand out. This time the landing from overseas includes six hockey players, where the figure of Roman Yosi stands apart. The Nashville defenseman had an excellent season in the NHL, being among the nominees for the title of best defenseman in the League following the regular season. In early May, the Swiss team took part in the Czech Hockey Games, where in three matches they won one victory over the Czech national team 2-1 and lost twice - 1:3 to the Finns and 1:2 to the Swedes.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on Austria vs Switzerland
AustriaThe Austrian team is already holding its third World Championship in the elite division, which is a unique achievement for this team. Over the past 20 years, the Austrian national team has regularly qualified for the elite division, but it has not been able to stay there for more than a season. A year ago, at the World Championships held in Latvia and Finland, the Austrian team with great difficulty retained their registration in the elite division. The Austrians lost six out of seven matches in the group stage, but with a single victory they managed to leave last place. The victory was won over a direct competitor, the Hungarian national team, only in a series of post-match shootouts.
Now in the fight for survival, the Austrians' main competitors will be the national teams of Great Britain and Norway. There is no need to expect a qualitative breakthrough from the Austrians; the composition of the national team is largely the same as last year’s. The main star of the Austrian team is twenty-two-year-old forward Marco Rossi, who scored 40 points (21+19) in games for Minnesota last season. Before the start of the championship, the Austrians played 9 control matches, managing to win only one of them; the German team was beaten with a score of 2-1.
Switzerland
Unlike its opponent, the Swiss team is one of the most progressive in world hockey, currently occupying 7th place in the IIHF ranking. Over the past ten years, the Swiss have reached the final of the World Championship twice and both times lost in the fight for gold medals, and in both cases the opponent in the final was the Swedish team. A year ago, the Swiss team passed the group stage perfectly, finishing in first place with 19 points. All the more unexpected was the result of the quarterfinal match against the German national team, in which the Swiss sensationally lost with a score of 1-3.
Now the coaching staff of the national team, led by Patrick Fischer, has brought to the Czech Republic quite an age group, where representatives of the NHL traditionally stand out. This time the landing from overseas includes six hockey players, where the figure of Roman Yosi stands apart. The Nashville defenseman had an excellent season in the NHL, being among the nominees for the title of best defenseman in the League following the regular season. In early May, the Swiss team took part in the Czech Hockey Games, where in three matches they won one victory over the Czech national team 2-1 and lost twice - 1:3 to the Finns and 1:2 to the Swedes.
Comments 0