The USA defeated Slovakia 7:3 and get into the World Championship semi-finals. The game was more contested than the result may suggest.
Spectators were treated to a great affair to kick off the quarter-finals: Slovakia, serial world champion between 2013 and 2019, and the USA, bronze medal winners at the last championships, were two heavyweights. A fast and even game developed right from the start. The Slovaks really warmed up US goalkeeper Carter in the first few minutes. When the Americans were in numerical superiority, the Slovakian goalkeeper Dubnicky also knew how to set himself up well. As a result, the teams went into the first break goalless.
The second period began with a bang after 30 seconds: Right after the Slovakian survived a boxplay, Callahan was forgotten and netted the opening goal. A short time later, the Slovaks lost possession on the halfway line; the US team had no mercy and made it 2:0 through Albright. And it got even better for them when captain Ruiz scored after 26 minutes while in boxplay. In the same powerplay, the Slovaks managed an immediate reply: Stefanka reduced the score after a wonderful cross pass. However, the Eastern Europeans' joy was short-lived. Levesque restored the three-goal lead 9 seconds before the end of the period. Could the Slovaks respond again?
The Slovaks provided the answer three minutes into the final period when Martinusik brought his team back. From then on, a lively back-and-forth ensued. After a fine individual effort from US captain Ruiz to make it 5:2 (36th minute), the Slovaks got back into the game with a long-range shot from Straka. Slovakia replaced the goalkeeper with an extra outfield player four minutes before the final buzzer. The risk did not pay off. Instead, Albright and Levesque took advantage of this to score into the empty net.
All games of the Streethockey World Championship can also be watched on live stream at https://streethockeywc.asport.tv/.
Comentarios