Quarter-finals fixed

The Women’s Junior WCh in Czech Republic is entering the final stage. Next will be four highly exciting quarter-finals of whom the outcome is nearly unpredictable, as no clear favourite has emerged. High tension is likely to arise during the evening match between Sweden and Russia. By virtue of the performances they have shown so far both teams are among the top favourites. The Swedes indeed needed some more time to get into the tournament, however, are getting into shape to near their best form. It is for sure that one of the very strong teams will have to make its exit.

The like is valid for the match between Korea and France. The Asian side nearly kept a clean record except for their last preliminary round match. When it was about who will win the group they drew with Sweden. France had a somewhat bumpy ride during the preliminaries. They lost to Russia by one goal, defeated Poland by one, and Austria managed to hold them to a draw. Yet, they showed convincing performances all the time.

In the course of the tournament the Norwegian girls also made a big step forward in this regard. Their eighth-final performance against Austria was particularly impressive. Serbia, their quarter-final opponents, should have been alerted. The preliminaries also proved a walkover for the Serbs, as they earned a clear victory over Denmark in their last PR match, and their eighth-final win over Congo was dominant too. They have definitely to be named as one of the top favourites too.

Poland is the surprising side of the tournament. Victory over Brazil at the eighth-final stage made them qualify for the round of the last eight where they will face Hungary. The Hungarian girls for their part still wonder what they are really capable to achieve. They managed to eliminate WCh host Czech Republic at the eighth-final stage though.

The quarter-finals at a glance:

12.00: Korea – France

14.45: Hungary –Poland

17.30: Norway – Serbia

20.15: Sweden – Russia

The placement round (9th-16th place)

Part 1 of the placement round (places 9 – 16), is supposed to be an internal quarter-final stage. The winners of today’s placement round will be competing for places 9 to 12, the losers for places 13 to 16. Taking a look at the field of participants, you may notice a group winner who came here. Despite their strong appearances before, disappointing Brazil, quite surprisingly, had to give in to Poland at the eighth-final stage. And now they will meet WCh host Czech Republic, of all teams, in the first match of the placement round.

Denmark vs. Russia is supposed to be another exciting match. Both teams would have been capable of advancing to the quarter-finals, hence it promises to be a clash too. The same applies to Spain’s encounter with Croatia. However, the favourite of the match between Austria and Congo is obvious.

The placement round at a glance

14.00: Denmark – Romania

16:00: Czech Republic – Brazil

18:00: Austria – Congo

20.00: Spain – Croatia

The President´s Cup (17th-24th)

Final decisions are being made today regarding the President’s Cup. The most important question is: Who will win the Cup? Thanks to previous KO wins the Netherlands and Uruguay will compete in the final. No doubt that the Netherlands, which, to many experts’ surprise, had ranked just fifth in their preliminary round group, are the favourites. Argentina, which had performed convincingly during the preliminaries, only achieved the match for place 19 in the end where the South Americans will meet the team from Angola that had disappointed so far. The junior sides from China and Japan also failed to perform convincingly and thus will meet in the match for rank 21. Tunisia and Kazakhstan have not gained any point so far to compete for 23rd place. One team of those two will at least be able to celebrate one victory at the end of the WCh tournament.

The President´s Cup at a glance:

Places 23/24 – 14.00: Kazakhstan – Tunisia Places 21/22 – 16.00: China – Japan Places 19/20 – 18.00: Angola – Argentina Places 17/18 – 20.00: Netherlands – Uruguay