The men's national team lost to Slovakia in the fourth game of their World Cup preparations on Saturday afternoon. In front of a sold-out crowd in Augsburg, national coach Harold Kreis' team had to admit defeat 4:5 nV in an intense and fast-paced game. DEB-Captain Moritz Müller celebrated his 200th international appearance during the international match, and the defender was honored for this milestone before the game. The game against Slovakia ends the second preparatory phase of the World Cup preparations.
After the first meeting between the two teams last Thursday, the Slovaks wanted their defeat against the DEB-Team made up for it and played again with physical focus and high tempo. Nevertheless, the first change by the German selection caused unrest in the Slovak defense, but the first chance remained. After six minutes, Slovakian Samuel Takac had the guests' first big chance with his counterattack. Florian Bugl, who is today in the DEB-Tor started, kept the upper hand. The German team had the next chance with Jan-Luca Sennhenn, who narrowly missed in the 12th minute. The Slovaks took the lead: the German defense briefly lacked coordination. Jozef Balaz, who received the back pass from Lukas Cingel, took advantage of this to make it 1-0 (38th).
The second period also saw the start of the first power play for the German team, which was unable to build up any compelling pressure. The second power play was more successful: In the 25th minute, Dominik Kahun's puck went over Parker Tuomie to Marc Michaelis' stick, who directed the shot into the goal to make it 1:1. The equalizer did not last long, as Matej Kaslik won a running duel and scored the 2:1 (32nd minute). The German team equalized in the 35th minute through Mario Zimmermann. For Zimmermann, it was his first international goal. Just 49 seconds later, Alexander Ehl gave Germany the lead (35th minute). But the guests had the answer again: Michael Lantosi scored the 38:3 equalizer in the 3th minute.
It didn't take long after the break before Justin Schütz had to go to the penalty box for a hold. The guests then scored 4:3 (43rd) through Michal Ivan. Around ten minutes before the end, Daniel Pfaffengut had to go to the penalty box. Instead of conceding a goal, they benefited DEB-Choosing a shorthanded goal. Wojciech Stachowiak won a duel behind the guests' goal and brought the puck in front of the goal, where the guests put the puck into their own goal (51'). The last minutes of the game were characterized by the big fight for the decisive goal, which Samuel Soramies and shortly afterwards Matthias Plachta had on their hands with a shot against the post. The extension had to bring the decision. Slovakia had a successful end thanks to Martin Fasko-Rudas, who scored the game winner.
Next Tuesday the national team will meet in Garmisch-Partenkirchen for phase three. Then the next two international matches are on the agenda. The opponent is always the selection of Austria.