Worlds Day 1 Roundup
If you’re like me and you’re on the other side of the world from Worlds it’s a lot to keep up with. I’m going to try and keep up giving a recap of the results and anything I saw on video that was interesting to me.
Open
TL;DR Everything went to seed.
Pool A
Two very comfortable wins for USA and GB. Both are through to power pools, their game is just to decide which power pool they’ll be in.
Pool B
France but up a terrific fight here to nearly earn their way into a power pool but fell marginally short. Assuming they take care of business vs China, they do look like they might be the best team in the lower power pools so we should be seeing them in a crossover.
Belgium vs Japan are playing today and this was a game I was eagerly anticipating - with both teams through to power pools maybe this won’t be played at the intensity I was hoping for. However the prize for the win is to most likely avoid the USA’s power pool.
Pool C
Another group that went to seed, with New Zealand providing some scares for Australia and Germany, as well as maybe the highlight of the tournament. The Australia-Germany match could be a great one, however in this case the winner of the game joins the US in their power pool. That’s not exactly motivation to reallly go for it.
Pool D
Similar to group A, the top two teams were very comfortable here. Their game today should give us some intel on who is strongest, and with the winner avoiding the US power pool both teams might actually go for it.
Women’s
Games did NOT go to seed in this division.
Pool A
The first round of games went as expected, but the second round provided the first major upset of the tournament with China taking down New Zealand.
Less of a shock but the first meeting of two of the heavyweight contenders went Australia’s way as they came from 12-11 down to win 15-12. Really impressive show of strength from Australia’s top athletes at the end of the game.
As well as calling stronger lines Australia changed up their defence - going to much more of a fluid poaching system where they prioritised pressure in the middle of the pitch.
Really strong performance from the hosts which bodes well for their chances of a medal. Still a couple of days until they round off the pool by playing the US where we will get another gauge of how far this team can go.
Game to watch today is the US-Japan game at the end of the day.
Pool B
If China over New Zealand was the first shock, it wasn’t the biggest because Chinese Taipei rounded off the day with a 15-13 win over GB. That certainly doesn’t mean GB are out of contention for power pools - if they play to their ability they can shake the pool up further by beating one of the higher seeded teams.
The other big result in this pool was Canada’s win over Germany, again laying down a marker for who may be the strongest in that fight for a medal.
Game to keep an eye on today - Germany vs GB with both teams needing to bounce back after losses and plenty of recent history in this matchup.
Mixed
Pool A
Everything went as expected in this pool. Argentina put up a very strong performance against Austria in their debut which is great to see.
Pool B
Four reasonably tight games in this pool to kick us off, but the big story is India’s win over New Zealand in a seeding upset. New Zealand had fought their way to 12-9 before conceding 6 of the next 7 - big display of strength from India. For New Zealand now they’ll need to win out against China and Italy and hope Italy or China can beat India. 4th in the pool and you’re out in this format. Keep an eye on those games - potential fireworks.
Pool C
No shocks here but we got one big matchup with Canada vs Germany where Canada took care of business. Germany hung around enough to suggest they can be a danger to GB in the group but even if not, should have no worries about finishing top 3.
Pool D
The top 3 teams should be fairly comfortable here getting through. The big story from the group is probably Singapore beating Colombia. A seeding upset, but Singapore mixed teams do have a habit of breaking seeds at Worlds events so they were always a very dangerous 3rd seed to have in your pool. Very interested to see how they fare against France in a couple of days time.