The chances of Slovak hockey players to advance to the quarter -finals of the 88th World Cup disappeared after an unmanageable key meeting against Latvia (1: 5). The definitive end at the championship was arranged on Sunday evening the middle part of the game, in which the Slovaks lagged and collected three times.
The failed tournament was also noticed by experts in the Czech Television Studiowho have been disillusioned with the Slovak performance, reported the daily.
Coach team Vladimír Országh The duel started well. In the opening period, the opponent clearly shot in a ratio of 15: 7, but again confirmed the greatest weakness. Throughout the tournament it is a miserable efficiency in the end, which dropped below five percent after the sixth performance. In a more detailed statement that means that The Slovaks managed to turn 155 shots into the opponents’ goal into only eight goals. In the first period against Latvia, they did not use several good positions.
Slovaks have an even worse offensive balance in the tournament than at the World Championship in 2017, after which the staffing “earthquake” in Slovak hockey came. At that time they scored 12 goals in the group stage. The parallel can also be found in a number of justification of experienced players.
“We scored eight goals in six matches and that’s very few. One goal is not won, certainly not in the long run. We also had some chances against Latvians, but we couldn’t transform them. It was the same in the matches before. We could have been more stronger, more aggressive and have a larger ,lust‘ scoring told TASR after the match with Latvia Captain Matúš Sukel.
The Sukel belonged to the team’s leaders from preparation, and in Stockholm finally got the confidence to lead the team with the captain’s “C”. According to the head coach Vladimír Országh, the Slovaks were missing, in addition to goals, more creativity in the offensive. However, the young Slovak selection gained valuable experience.
“I personally believed us from the beginning, even though it is a young team. We have a lot of clever guys who have a future ahead. I believed we could surprise and show that even youth ferocity and a mix of more experienced players can advance to the quarterfinals. I scored one goal, which is very few. We must be more productive in the future. I can’t deny anyone. Each one of us can be even a step better and I regret that we may not have pulled it out, ”he added Sukel.
Experts in the studio of Czech Television were disillusioned with Slovak performance. “It was a disappointment for me what the Slovaks showed in the championship. They knew they had no shooters and brilliant players in the line -up, but they were supposed to get dead and show that they could fight and do honest work,” quoted the words of the former striker Martin Hosták SME daily.
“I expected the team to get together and I will see the Slovaks fighting for every puck. But that failed. It seemed to me as a groping and waiting, if someone would take it on. It seemed to me that the players did not fight for the results as they would have in the team to drive the game, ”added exhockey player Milan Antoš.
