PORTO – Day 4 showed the finalists of the 7th World University Floorball Championship. The Women’s and Men’s final will face-off Sweden versus Finland.
What a men’s semi-finals it was! The Suomi got their revenge of the defeat against Switzerland in the 3rd day of competition. The first 20 minutes were crucial to Switzerland because the Fins scored 5 goals in the 1st period. The 2nd period was very different with the Swiss scoring 2 goals and getting closer to Finland, but the hope lasted just a few minutes, until Team Finland scored its 6th goal of the match. In the 3rd period both teams scored 1 goal each and Finland got its spot in the final.
At the other semi-final, Sweden began calm pointing 3 goals in the 1st period but they trembled when Czech Republic scored the first goal in the 2nd period (3-1). In a very aggressive game, where two sticks were broken, Sweden became stronger scoring another 3 goals in the 3rd period, assuring a spot in the final against Finland. The historical rivals will meet today at 8pm at University Stadium to find out which formation will be crowned the World University Champion.
In the women’s semi-final between Finland and Switzerland, the Nordic team scored a total of 9 goals against only 2 by Switzerland. It was a competitive game in the beginning of the match, but Finland’s girls took over the game and ended up qualifying for the WUC final. In the other semi-final, Sweden defeated Czech Republic. This was one of the most intense and spectacular women’s matches. Both teams fought and scored one after the other for the spot in the final of this WUC. The match was heated until the very end. The Swedish team took advantage of its aggressive attack to manage to get the upper hand in the last period of the game. The final score was 8-4. The Women’s Final will be disputed at 4pm at University Stadium between Sweden and Finland.
Day 4 started with the Men’s qualifying for the semi-finals, where Czech Republic defeated Slovakia 8-1. In the other men’s qualifying match, Finland went to the match with only half of the team but that was enough to beat Spain that had lost their only goalkeeper at day 3. So, Spain will play against Slovakia to 5th and 6th place.
In the classification round games for the 7th to 9th places in the men’s tournament, Portugal bat Korea. The home team is taking steps and with its aggressive defence showed again its development throughout the tournament. The teams were always counter-attacking each other and it was a delight for the spectators. The final score ended with 6-3 for Portugal. With this result and thanks to the tie of Japan with Korea (3-3), Portugal assures the 8th place and today will battle it out with Japan for the 7th place.
In the women’s competition, Poland, Spain and Japan played for 5th, 6th and 7th places. Spain lost to the two opponents and ended this WUC in 7th place. The 5th and 6th place will be decided today between Japan and Poland at the Faculty of Sports.
(Source: WUC Floorball OC – Photos: João Pedro Rocha)
RESULTS
Women:
Men:
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