Passionate about the World Cup semi-finals – ice hockey team defeated Switzerland

• The German national ice hockey team is making it back to a World Cup semi-final for the first time in eleven years.
• The selection of national coach Toni Söderholm wins their quarter-finals against Switzerland 3-2 on Thursday in Riga.

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Germany is facing the next ice hockey miracle. Thanks to a successful penalty drama against Switzerland separates Germany only one victory from the first World Cup medal in 68 years and a sensation similar to the 2018 Olympic final. With the thrilling 3: 2 (0: 1, 1: 1, 1: 0) after a penalty shoot-out and a 0: 2 The German national team reached the semi-finals in Riga on Thursday and has already achieved the best World Cup result since the home tournament eleven years ago. Marcel Noebels converted the decisive penalty.

Chance of winning the first World Cup medal since 1953

In the semifinals on Saturday, the selection of national coach Toni Söderholm has the chance to win the first World Cup medal since silver in 1953. The opponent was not yet certain after the game. “It would be great if we win the game today. It’s a great opportunity for us and we want to achieve something,” Söderholm said before the game at Sport1.

His team fulfilled their own extremely high expectations with once again great passion and is now dreaming of more. Tom Kühnhackl (38th minute) and Leon Gawanke 44 seconds before the end of regular time, the Germans shot into goalless overtime and Noebels finally scored only a second win in the twelfth quarter-finals since 1992. The Switzerland felt like the winner after goals from defender Ramon Untersander (16th) from SC Bern and striker Fabrice Herzog (34th) from HC Davos.

With the success, a small piece of German ice hockey history was repeated. In 2010, Germany, as World Cup hosts, beat Switzerland 1-0 for the first time in a World Cup semi-final. Korbinian Holzer had already been with the Germans just like Andres Ambühl with the Swiss – and was now one of the most important German defenders again in Riga. This time the duel was also intense, but not as heated as eleven years ago in Mannheim.

The rivalry between Germany and Switzerland is enormous

The rivalry between Germany and Switzerland is enormous. Ice hockey is more important to the Swiss Confederation, the runner-up in 2013 and 2018 was aiming for gold at the World Cup this time. With the victory they fought for, the Söderholm team inflicted a huge disappointment on their rivals because Switzerland saw themselves as the clear favorite and the DEB team stood in the way for the third time in a row in a knockout game. In Pyeongchang 2018 a 2: 1 after extra time made the miraculous run into the Olympic final possible. Six players from a good three years ago were now each at the Olympic Sports Center in Riga.

After the playfully weak performance in the preliminary round against the Latvians, the Söderholm troop presented themselves better and did not make as many mistakes in the neutral zone for a long time. The offensive game remained safer than the Swiss for a long time. A nice combination of the opponent led to the deficit by defender Untersander from SC Bern.

DEB team convinces again with its “lion heart”

The DEB team convinced once again with its “Lionheart” (Söderholm) and also survived being outnumbered against the best outnumbered team in the tournament. Nevertheless, the 0: 2 followed. But Kühnhackl, the decisive scorer for Olympic qualification in Riga almost five years ago, poked the puck into the goal before the end of the second period. “We want to build on that,” announced captain Moritz Müller.

In the final third, the German made steam again and was rewarded by Gawanke’s shot shortly before the end of regular time with one more man on the ice for this show of strength.

For the tournament under the special Corona circumstances, the German cracks had not even ruled out the world title. After changing appearances in the preliminary round and the only secured entry into the knockout round in the last group game, they are now one of only four teams in the tournament. It is only the second time that the DEB team is contesting a World Cup semi-finals; the mode of the previous World Cup medals in 1930, 1932, 1934 and 1953 was different. (dpa / mgb)