USA vs Sweden. Can the Swedes continue their winning streak?
The leader of group B, the Swedish national team, will play their next group stage match against the American team. The meeting will take place on May 21 in Tampere, on the ice of the local arena "Tampere Dec".
For the American team, the World Championship in Finland has already become the sixty-ninth for the entire existence of the national team. Despite the fact that the American team is always ranked among the favorites of international tournaments, they do not have so many big victories. Two golds (the last in 1960), four silvers (the last in 1950) and 8 times the Americans became third at the World Championships, and the last bronze was won a year ago, at the world championship in Latvia.
Experts do not expect much from this convocation of the American team. While most of the roster is from the NHL, there are no real stars this time around. Starting matches only confirm this assumption. After a fairly confident 4-1 victory over the Latvian national team, the Americans miraculously rebounded in the game against the Austrians, losing 0-2 during the match and winning only in overtime. The first serious opponent in the tournament for the US team was the hosts of the tournament, the match against which once again emphasized the structural problems of the North Americans. Predictably, the attack did not work, only one abandoned puck, the defenders could not keep up with the fast Finnish attack, which eventually resulted in a 1-4 defeat. Now the Americans with 5 points scored are in third place in group B, already 6 points behind the leaders.
Sweden
And the leaders of the group is just the Swedish team, which at the start of the tournament looks like the most balanced team of all the participants in the championship. Already after the Olympics in Beijing, it was announced that the upcoming championship would be the last for the Swedes' mentor Garpenlev, who could not establish contact with the Swedish stars playing in the NHL. Thus, at the start of the tournament, there were only 15 field hockey players in the application of the Swedes, which, in other matters, did not prevent Tre Krunur from starting the championship with four victories in a row.
While victories over rather weak Austrian teams 3-1 and Great Britain 6-0 were quite predictable, the matches against the Czech and Finnish teams were expected with some apprehension. Nevertheless, the Czechs were beaten with a score of 5-3, and in the game against the Finnish national team, it came to a series of post-match shootouts, where everything was decided by the exact throw of Emil Bömström, the only one of the two teams who realized his attempt. Thus, the Swedish team now has 11 points and a confident first place in group B.
Our Expert Predictions & Analysis on USA vs Sweden
USAFor the American team, the World Championship in Finland has already become the sixty-ninth for the entire existence of the national team. Despite the fact that the American team is always ranked among the favorites of international tournaments, they do not have so many big victories. Two golds (the last in 1960), four silvers (the last in 1950) and 8 times the Americans became third at the World Championships, and the last bronze was won a year ago, at the world championship in Latvia.
Experts do not expect much from this convocation of the American team. While most of the roster is from the NHL, there are no real stars this time around. Starting matches only confirm this assumption. After a fairly confident 4-1 victory over the Latvian national team, the Americans miraculously rebounded in the game against the Austrians, losing 0-2 during the match and winning only in overtime. The first serious opponent in the tournament for the US team was the hosts of the tournament, the match against which once again emphasized the structural problems of the North Americans. Predictably, the attack did not work, only one abandoned puck, the defenders could not keep up with the fast Finnish attack, which eventually resulted in a 1-4 defeat. Now the Americans with 5 points scored are in third place in group B, already 6 points behind the leaders.
Sweden
And the leaders of the group is just the Swedish team, which at the start of the tournament looks like the most balanced team of all the participants in the championship. Already after the Olympics in Beijing, it was announced that the upcoming championship would be the last for the Swedes' mentor Garpenlev, who could not establish contact with the Swedish stars playing in the NHL. Thus, at the start of the tournament, there were only 15 field hockey players in the application of the Swedes, which, in other matters, did not prevent Tre Krunur from starting the championship with four victories in a row.
While victories over rather weak Austrian teams 3-1 and Great Britain 6-0 were quite predictable, the matches against the Czech and Finnish teams were expected with some apprehension. Nevertheless, the Czechs were beaten with a score of 5-3, and in the game against the Finnish national team, it came to a series of post-match shootouts, where everything was decided by the exact throw of Emil Bömström, the only one of the two teams who realized his attempt. Thus, the Swedish team now has 11 points and a confident first place in group B.
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