Of all things, the German selection showed their best tournament performance in the 0-3 defeat against the star ensemble from the USA / Pietta in the 100 club
If you don't score a goal, you can't win. This wisdom is not new, but it was very recent yesterday when the German national team lost 0-3 to Team USA. A second piece of wisdom also came into play on Monday: If you're not lucky, there's usually bad luck too. This may well remain the case in retrospect.
Everyone in the German team knows that defeats don't buy you anything. The bottom line is three defeats after three games. At least the team coached by Marco Sturm managed to save a point each against Denmark and Norway. How important these will be in the final reckoning will be decided in the near future. First the national team will play against South Korea, then Latvia and finally the favorites from Finland and Canada.
Against the Americans, the German team showed a strong performance over 60 minutes, supported by a Niklas Treutle in top form. The national coach also guaranteed him a place in the match against the Asians tomorrow. "Niklas was rightly named MVP. I will not change anything in the goalkeeper position for the time being." Treutle himself was pleased with the praise from Fans and media, but at the same time emphasized that he would have preferred to win rather than be voted player of the game.
What was noticeable: Sturm's change in the storm ranks had an effect. The national coach had mixed up his formations on offense, even breaking up the attack line with Leon Draisaitl, Yasin Ehliz and Matthias Plachta. As a result, rows two, three and four were able to improve significantly; the strikers acted with much more pressure and presented themselves with stronger duels.
Draisaitl summed up the first three games: "The results themselves are a little frustrating. Of course we would have liked to have scored a few more points and won. But I think that we played pretty good hockey at times. Especially against the USA. On the other hand, there was still room for improvement. We will continue on our way and take the positives with us."
There was still a small anniversary to celebrate yesterday. Daniel Pietta completed his 100th international match for Germany. Against South Korea, keeper Timo Pielmeier will be on the field for the 50th time. Korbinian Holzer and Domink Kahun celebrate the same anniversary (50 international matches) then one game later against Latvia.