Hockey World Cup 2021: The Czech Republic paid extra against Switzerland for exclusions

RIGA, BRATISLAVA. This is not the idea of ​​the championships. The Czech team set a new record at the Riga Championships. Negative.

For the first time in the era of independence, the Czech Republic has zero points after two matches at the World Cup. On Friday lost to Russia 3: 4, on Saturday defeated Switzerland 5: 2.

On Saturday, they left the ice with their heads down. They led 1: 0 in the match, but the Swiss turned the match around thanks to goals in powerlifting.

“Seven two-minute sentences, most of them completely meaningless. Of these, four goals collected, there is nothing to add, “said the Czech coach Filip Pešán.

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Insanely lots of fouls

“There were an insane amount of fouls. We can’t have so many eliminated players because we wouldn’t win a match like that. We have to be careful about that in the next meetings, “said Jan Kovář.

The Czech striker, who was the most productive player in the Swiss league last season, thinks that the Swiss are the favorite of the tournament.

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“I wasn’t at all surprised that they play so well,” says striker EV Zug.

“I know their players and I know how good a team they are. They received quality reinforcements from the NHL. They have an excellent goalkeeper. They play in a disciplined manner. They are among the favorites. “

The Swiss showed their strength in power play, in which they prevailed after almost identical actions. Timo Meier and Gregory Hofmann scored two goals.

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Coach Pešán changed the composition of the attacks to the last third and also replaced the goalkeeper. However, even that did not help the recovery.

“The boys have been promoted. It was obvious that they wanted to. They tried, but the match went downhill for us, “said Pešán.

Coach: We wear overalls

Despite the bad result, he thinks that the Czech hockey players gave a better performance on Saturday than against Russia on Friday.

“We had more movement, we were not so withdrawn, but it was not enough for the opponent. This team has more. It’s also my fault that the players don’t do hard work.

We tried to play simple combination hockey, which does not hurt, and we see that this is not the right way. We have to take our overalls and get back to work, “added Pešán.

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In preparation for the championship, the Czech team presented itself in a good light and Pešán said that he was dreaming of medals. The Czech Republic last won it in 2012.

But at the championships, after two matches, the Czechs are on the penultimate place of the A-group with a score of 5: 9. They will play an important match against Belarus on Monday.

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“Nothing is lost, but we will want to present ourselves to other hockey players than we played these two matches,” said Kovář.

Hockey experts also agree that Pešánov’s team has more to do and can improve in the next matches.

“We must not panic, we have lost two matches. Maybe in the last one we will play with the Slovaks for promotion. We still have a lot of matches ahead of us. The team must wake up, “said Pavel Bárta from the Czech daily Sport.

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The Czech Republic and Switzerland will be Slovakia’s rivals in the A-group.

The Slovaks will play against Switzerland on Thursday, May 27. They will play the last match of the A-group against the Czech Republic on Tuesday, June 1.

Given the development so far in the group, this can be a key match that will decide the progress of one or the other team to the quarterfinals.

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