Day 2: Favourites show their strength
Two second day matches of the World Floorball Championships Qualification were played today in Valmiera, Latvia. Both favourites of the EUR4 group - Norway and Latvia added two points in the table with high scoring wins.
In the early match Hungary had very tough time against fresh Norwegians and it showed on the scoreboard - 24:3 in favor of Scandinavians. Hungary managed to score first and in the opening minutes it looked like the match could be closer than expected. However Hungary was not able to keep up the same level of play for long and Norway answered with 8 goals in the remaining time of the first period. In the continuation of the match nothing changed and Norway, led by Swedish Super League star Ketil Kronberg, dominated the game with speed and better technical skills. Eight different Norwegian players collected 4 or more points in this match and it shows how balanced the team's roster is. Best players of the match were Ketil Kronberg (Norway) and Domokos Racz (Hungary).
Norway – Hungary highlights and interviews can be found here.
In the evening match Latvia got the second win in the tournament beating Liechtenstein (13:2). Latvia dominated the match for whole 60 minutes creating very many scoring chances, but a lot of them remained unused. Liechtenstein concentrated on the defense and fast counter attacks which materialized in two goals by Fabian Kramer. Best players of the match were Oskars Firmanis (Latvia) and Fabian Kramer (Liechtenstein).
Latvia – Liechtenstein highlights and interviews can be found here.
After the second day Latvia has taken the lead in EUR4 qualification group with 4 points. Full standings can be found here.
Scoring leaders after Day 2 are Ole Mossin Olesen (Norway) with 6 points (4+2), Ingus Laivins (Latvia) with 6 points (3+3) and Ketil Kronberg (Norway) with 6 points (2+4). Full player statistics can be found here.
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