The second-but-last round of matches at World League
Round 2 in Elektrostal saw Ukraine defeat Austria in a shoot-out and
Egypt battle past the Czech Republic to confine the Czech to last place
in the tournament. The highlight of the day was the match between
tabletoppers Russia and Japan, with Japan claiming a narrow win that
confirmed them as one of the two missing World League Semi-Finalists.
At the end of Day 4, Japan are still at the top of the table on
twelve points, trailed by Russia on nine, Austria on six, Ukraine on
five and Egypt on four, while the Czech Republic are without points
after their first four matches. For Russia to still make it through to
the Semi-Final events next month, they would need to finish first in the
final ranking by winning their match against the Czech Republic
tomorrow with a sufficient number of goals while hoping for Japan to
lose against Austria.
Today, Ukraine and Austria took to the field first on
another nice warm and sunny day in Elektrostal. Austria scored first as
Patrick Schmidt finished of a quick attack in the sixth minute but
Ukraine replied in the very next attack with Artem Ozerskyi finding the
net for the equalizer.
For the remainder of the first half, play moved back and forth
between the equal opponents but neither could apply pressure in the
circle, and the scoreline stayed at 1-1 into halftime. After the break,
Ukraine returned with more resolve than Austria and attacked
relentlessly, while Austria struggled to reply appropriately.
Nonetheless, it was the Austrians who scored next to
take the lead again, against the run of play. Following this goal, the
match became increasingly hectic and both coaches were highly excited,
pacing the sideline. Ukraine were the more dangerous team, and with five
minutes on the clock, they managed to pull level as Dmytro Luppa sank a
straight flick to the bottom left of the goal on a penalty corner.
This goal eventually forced the match into a shoot-out, the second of
the event and the second for Austria who had walked away victorious
from their shoot-out with Egypt two days ago. This time however, the
decider went the other way, and it was the Ukraine who snatched a win
after a dramatic shoot-out which included a re-take and two penalty
strokes.
The subsequent match between Egypt and the Czech
Republic also started with an early goal, as Amr Sayed converted a
penalty corner in the fourth minute. Egypt were in firm control of the
match and their prime penalty corner expert Hamada Atef piled on a
second goal midway through the first half until the Czech started
finding their feet and fought back with a goal from Tomas Vohnicky.
The teams thus went into halftime at 2-1 in the Egyptians advantage,
but a double hit just after the re-start practically settled the match,
as two goals from team captain Waleed Mohamed in just under a minute
took the scorelone to 4-1. A beautiful goal from the far right by David
Vacek brought the Czechs a little closer again, but it was an uphill
battle.
Taking advantage of a moment of confusion in the Czech
defense, Ahmed Abd Elmaksoud broke through, scoring from the circle to
restore a three goal lead, and while Martin Capouch still added one for
the Czech Republic, the Czechs couldn't catch up with Egypt anymore.
This results confines the Czech Republic to last place in the
tournament's final ranking ahead of the last round of matches.
The day concluded with the most important match, the encounter
between the Russian hosts and Team Japan, a decisive match in the race
for the World League Semi-Finals.
Japan got off to a good start with a 10th minute goal
from Heita Yoshihara but Russia caught up with a goal from Dmitry Azarov
little later, with Azarov's goal coming as the last rebound at the end
of a series of shots that were valiantly warded off by Japanese
goalkeeper Katsuya Takase, and the tied score stayed up until halftime.
Playing the more controlled and calm hockey in the face of hectic
Russian attacks, the Japanese pulled ahead again with a penalty corner
conversion by their set piece expert Manabu Hatakeyama, with a low flick
beating the keeper.
Knowing they are under pressure to win the tournament
if they want to go through, Russia played aggressive attacking hockey
after the Japanese regained the lead, and had a string of opportunities
but the Japanese defense warded off attempt after attempt. Shinji
Kawauchi eventually finished off a quick counter-attack, catching the
Russian defense off-guard, to make it 3-1. With only minutes to go the
match, Russia ran out of time to reply, and Japan secured the win and
the elusive ticket to the Semi-Final.
