The German national ice hockey team is in the quarterfinals of the 2021 IIHF World Championship after a nerve-wracking thriller. National coach Toni Söderholm's team prevailed in the showdown for the places in the final round against World Cup hosts Latvia 2-1 (2-0, 0-1, 0-0). This means that the selection of the Deutscher Eishockey-Bund will meet Switzerland in the round of the last eight on Thursday. Marcel Noebels and John Peterka scored the decisive goals in the Arena Riga.
There was already a memorable clash in Cologne in 2017 at the home World Cup for the quarter-final qualification, which was decided in a penalty shootout. And a year earlier, Riga was also the venue when Germany secured their ticket to Pyeongchang for the 2018 Winter Games in the Olympic qualifiers. At that World Cup, Latvia had started with a win against Canada and most recently won a point against Finland, which meant that both Germany and the hosts would have needed one point to advance.
Im DEBgoal, Mathias Niederberger made his fifth start at this tournament, Matthias Plachta completed his 100th international match in DEB-Shirt. Toni Söderholm also switched back to a combination of 13 strikers and seven defenders. This meant that Lean Bergmann was the only new player in the line-up compared to the previous day's duel against the USA. For the first time at this World Cup, spectators were allowed on the last group match day, 934 homeFans followed the duel.
They saw a tailor-made start for them DEB-Selection: After just over three minutes of play, John Peterka (4th) took courage and surprised the Latvian goalkeeper with a beautiful shot into the top short corner. Shortly afterwards, Lukas Reichel skilfully set Marcel Noebels (7th), who was positioned in front of the goal, in the spotlight, who was able to extend the lead. Until the end of the third, it was primarily the German outnumbered formation that was required to fend off the Latvians' attacks.
In the second period, a carelessness in the build-up game caused the DEB-Teams were able to counterattack quickly, which Rodrigo Abols (26th) successfully completed and brought his team back into the game. Driven on by the home fans, the World Cup host continued to press hard on the German goal. But Mathias Niederberger and his teammates survived the pressure phase unscathed.
The Latvians also struggled to equalize in the final period. But the German team showed itself to be highly concentrated again after the somewhat passive second half.
And as in the previous World Cup tournament games, he showed a lot of passion and will, which once again manifested itself in a large number of blocked shots. In the end, the German team deservedly achieved the all-important victory and is back in the World Cup quarter-finals as third in Group B. Leo Pföderl was named the best player in the duel against Latvia.
Voices about the game:
National coach Toni Söderholm: “We completed the first third very well, it was through the Fans felt like an away game. All players certainly enjoyed it, finally again Fans to have in the hall. We defended well in the first half and scored two important goals. In the second third we created a few problems for ourselves because we didn't play with enough detail and didn't make the right decisions. That can happen and the team once again showed incredible team spirit and defended patiently until the end, so we won the game. We want to play against Switzerland with the same passion and keep a cool head despite all the emotions. They play similarly compactly and base their game on strong goalkeepers. We will be ready.”
striker Matthias Plachta: “We had a good start to the game, which is of course always extremely important in a World Cup tournament like this. The Latvians pressed in the second third and we were a bit too passive. In the final section we played it much more calmly and with a lot of will and brought home the victory. The victory gives us a lot of energy, we will enjoy the moment for a moment and then prepare for Switzerland.”
Striker Tom Kühnhackl: “The first third was of course very important for us, especially because we knew how the Latvians would play with theirs Fans wanted to get out in the back. The two goals were really good for us. Of course, before the game we remembered the positive moments against the Latvians. On the other hand, today was a completely new game and we are happy to be in the quarter-finals. There is of course a rivalry against Switzerland and we have already seen some very interesting games from both teams. We will prepare for it from tomorrow.”
Photos: Peter Schatz