The atmosphere at the morning match was really great! 6,341 people have found their way into the O2 Arena, most of them being schoolchildren from all over the country. It was the biggest crowd on the Singapore – Japan match in the history. And as expected, they saw a tough game, which Singaporeans eventually deservedly won. Because of the defeat, Japan is out of the play-off run.
At the beginning the match was quite close. At 3:13 the Singaporean forward Hafiz Zubir opened the score with his first career WFC goal. But as the game went on the Singaporeans were getting better and gaining the upper hand. But goals were scored on both sides. Until the first break, Danjiro Maeda of Japan and Mazran Sutiman of Singapore both scored twice. For the 27-year-old Maeda this is even his first career international tournament at all.
Early into the second period, the Singaporean dominance was already huge. They controlled the ball and the Japanese players only focused on defense. But the Singaporeans couldn’t find a way to the Japanese net. Ichiro Ueda, a Swedish native and the Japanese captain, added two goals in the second period and completed a hat-trick. Thanks to his goals from counter-attacks Japan won the middle period 2-1 and tied the score at 5-5 before the second intermission.
In the last period, the Singaporeans kept controlling the pace of the game and they also finally found a way to score. Two goals by Vignesa Pasupathy sent Singapore into a 7-5 lead. Although the Japanese were down by two goals, their game plan didn’t really change. They were still waiting on their half of the rink in a defensive formation and let Singapore be the creative side. And so Singapore netted two more goals to win 9-5. Mazran Sutiman assisted on the last one and is the team’s scoring leader with 5 points (3+2).
Latvia Overcomes Norway after Penalty Shootout – 8.12.2018
Data Analysis: Czech Republic vs Denmark 10-1 – 8.12.2018
DAY 8: Battles for Final Start, Quarterfinal Losers to Fight for Fifth Place – 8.12.2018
Day 7 Summary: Favorites Sail through to Semis, Championship Again Offers Fantastic Atmosphere – 8.12.2018
Slovakia Takes 9th Place after Exciting Victory over Estonia – 7.12.2018
Finland Becomes Last Semifinalist after 6-1 Win against Germany – 7.12.2018
Canada Edges out Australia Thanks to Huge Comeback in Third Period – 7.12.2018
Sweden Advances to Semifinals after Beating Latvia – 7.12.2018
Poland Outclasses Thailand 9-1 to Grab 13th Place – 7.12.2018
Takizawa Scores Twice as Japan Beats Singapore 4-2 to Take 15th Place – 7.12.2018
Data Analysis: Group Stage Summary – 7.12.2018
DAY 7: Two Quarterfinals and Final Placement Matches on Schedule – 7.12.2018
Day 6 Summary: Czechs Easily through, Switzerland Stumbles, Attendance Record Broken – 7.12.2018
New WFC Attendance record – 6.12.2018
Data Analysis: Sweden vs Denmark 25-0 – 6.12.2018
Czech Republic Comfortably Wins Over Denmark to Reach Semifinals – 6.12.2018
Estonia Outclasses Canada 9-2 to Face Slovakia in 9th Place Game – 6.12.2018
Switzerland Gets Past Norway in Overtime Drama – 6.12.2018
Slovakia Beats Australia 12-3, Will Fight for 9th Place Tomorrow – 6.12.2018
Data Analysis: Norway vs Finland 1-9 – 6.12.2018