Day 4: Norway qualifies for the World Floorball Championships
On the fourth day of the World Floorball Championships Qualification in Valmiera, Latvia two very important matches were played. Italy beat Hungary and kept the chance to qualify alive. Latvia in front of 1628 spectators lost to Norway in the central match of this qualification group.
Early match between Italy and Hungary was very important for both teams, because only the winner would still have a chance to qualify for the World Floorball Championships Final Round. Italy started the match very well and scored six unanswered goals in the first period. Remaining 40 minutes were much closer. At one point Hungary closed the gap to 4 goals, but too much was lost in the opening period to hope for positive result at the end. Final score of this match was 8:3 in favor of Italy. The best players of this match were Thomas Ilmer (Italy) and Oliver Schmidt (Hungary).
Italy - Hungary highlights and interviews can be found here.
In the late match Latvia played Norway. Both teams were unbeaten in this tournament so far and winner would guarantee ticket to the World Floorball Championships Final Round in Gothenburg. Latvia didn’t start the match well and fell two goals behind in the first 10 minutes. Continuation was much better for the home team – with the support of fans they got back in the game and leveled the score at the end of the first period. In the second period Norway got the deciding lead and kept it until the final whistle of the match. Latvia had some chances to save the match, but penalties didn’t help the cause. Final score of this match was 6:4 in favor of Norway. Overall the match was very physical and aggressive with lots of penalties and other altercations. Defensively Latvia didn’t manage to limit freedom of Norway’s 1st line, led by Swedish Super League star Ketil Kronberg, and that was the main reason for the loss. The best players of this match were Jonas Gustavsen (Norway) and Aigars Belasovs (Latvia).
Norway - Latvia highlights and interviews can be found here.
After the fourth day Norway has taken the lead in EUR4 qualification group with 6 points. Full standings can be found here.
Scoring leaders after Day 4 are Ketil Kronberg (Norway) with 15 points (3+12), Dennis Schmidt (Hungary) with 12 points (6+6) and Thomas Straete (Norway) with 11 points (3+8). Full player statistics can be found here.
Related content:
Day 1: Italy and Latvia start with convincing wins
Day 2: Favourites show their strength
Day 3: Hungary gets the first victory, Norway stays unbeaten
