USA
The American team has never managed to reach the final of the World Ice Hockey Championships. It seemed that “Stars and Stripes” in the semi-finals will not have any problems, because the Americans had more or less luck with the opponent. However, the US was unable to cope with Germany, who defeated the Americans in overtime. Now the United States will face Latvia in the bronze medal game. The American team is mentioned as the obvious favorite for the third place in the tournament, but you can’t disagree: in the semi-final Stars and Stripes left a lot of strength and emotions, but they still lost. Latvia’s medals at home World Championships are clearly more needed than the Americans, so the Americans may have serious difficulties in the fight for bronze medals.
Latvia
Latvia is one of the highlights of this World Cup. Latvians finished third in their group, behind Switzerland and Canada. In the first round of the play-offs, the Latvians faced a very difficult opponent in the face of Sweden. Despite its status as an obvious loser, Latvia made it through the “tre krunur”, convincingly defeating a very powerful opponent. In the semi-finals, the Latvians successfully dealt with the Canadians, but the Maple Leaf, losing 1-2 before the third segment of the game, turned on in time and took a hard victory. Latvia looks great throughout the tournament – if the Balts lose, it will be in a very fierce fight. It is unlikely that the Latvians will allow themselves a crushing defeat today, and the Americans are clearly not in the mood for an easy victory.
Forecast
The United States still cannot become world champion. It failed this time as well. This fact obviously puts a lot of pressure on Stars and Stripes. The Latvian national team in the play-off phase of the World Cup had two great confrontations, and Canada’s defeat is unlikely to make the Balts angry. The bronze at home in the World Cup is a great result for Latvians, so in the match for third place Latvia can show its best side.