World Cup in Riga – Team Canada beat Italy 7–1 at the World Cup in Latvia and can continue to hope to reach the quarter-finals despite a historic false start.
After losing to Latvia (0: 2), USA (1: 5) and Germany (1: 3), the Canadians have recently won three in a row: Norway (4: 2), Kazakhstan (4: 2) ) And Italy.
Andrew Mangiapen is representative of fluctuations in Canadians. Since the Calgary Flames defender joined the team, the Canadians have only won. The 25-year-old attacking defender provided two goals and two assists against Italy.
Even after the third win, Canada’s starting position is fragile. The Canadian team will have to defeat world champions Finland in Tuesday lunch time to stay in the race. And Canadians can’t even be sure of success on the Finns who have already qualified for the quarter-finals in regular time.
Because if Kazakhstan wins against Norway and Germany get three points against Latvia and USA, then three points against Finland will not help Team Canada. Canada never missed the top eight of the title matches.
Sweden remains in a similar position. Sweden won 3–1 against Slovakia, scoring two goals late. Sweden almost never missed the top 8 in the World Cup (only in 1937). Sweden also have to win the top match against Russia on Monday evening to stay in the race for the quarter-finals.
Before the final two preliminary round match days, only Finland had a quarter-final ticket. The Finns defeated Germany (2–1) and hosts Latvia (3–2 after extra time) over the weekend.
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