The 2018 World Floorball Championship knows the first semifinalist. Team Switzerland, as a favorite in the first quarterfinal, had a lot of trouble with Norway. The Scandinavians created many big scoring opportunities, but were able to utilize just two of them, which wasn’t enough to beat their Swiss opponents, who scored one more in overtime.
In the replay of the last world championship’s quarterfinal, Switzerland opened the score in the 8th minute when Joël Rüegger found the net. Norway replied seven minutes later with Sindre Bjerknes’ shot at the far post. From that moment it was the Norwegians who controlled the ball most of the time and created more chances. But unfortunately for them, the score remained even.
In the second period Switzerland had higher possession, whereas the Norwegians decided to build an unbreakable defensive wall, which stopped many Swiss shots. In offense they relied on quick and dangerous counter-attacks, although they didn’t create as many chances as in the first period. Anyway, both teams failed to score in the middle period and went into the dressing rooms with the score still at 1-1.
Switzerland entered the third period in high style and after just 84 seconds Manuel Maurer redirected Meier’s pass and sent his team ahead. The tension was rising and the fans could again see lots of scoring opportunities on both sides, with Maurer and Hjemgard failing to score from the biggest chances. Four minutes before the end, the Norwegians killed a penalty and after just three seconds playing at full strength Jelsnes caught the ball and with a sensational throw he found Kronberg who tied the score with a backhand shot. And since no more goals were scored in the remainder of the regulation, the match went into overtime.
After just thirty seconds of extra time, Tim Braillard scored the clincher that sent Switzerland into the semifinals. The Norwegian fans can be proud of their team, though.
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