A windy day at Worlds and ever increasing stakes saw a lot of drama. And we still have 4 days to go!
Women’s
Only 1 game for each team in women’s today to round off the initial pool play.
Nothing too surprising here with results going to the initial higher seed. France pick up their first win in the lowest scoring game of the tournament. That result sees New Zealand, France and China end in a 3 way tie to avoid elimination which saw New Zealand progress with a +1 goal difference in the games between the teams.
Pool B
Singapore and GB losing puts them in the bottom two spots and elimination from a chance to make the bracket.
Power Pool Preview
The upper power pool sees the top two teams go straight to semi finals. Bottom two will crossover against the top two from the middle power pool (more on that one later).
It would be surprising if that wasn’t USA and Colombia as they both carry a win into this pool. It’ll be interesting to see how much both teams really go for it in their matchup in the pool - luckily it’s the first game in the power pool so they won’t already be assured of progress when they play which should add more incentive to both teams to hold less back than they might if they were both already through to semis.
Meanwhile, Australia and Canada will be hopeful of springing a surprise on the top two, or at least pushing them close enough that they can gain some confidence ahead of a potential bracket rematch. In the Australia Canada matchup…it’s a really close call. I’ve liked the way Australia have looked so far so I’ll go for them to win.
Middle Power Pool
You need to come top 2 in this pool to reach what is effectively a quarter final against the bottom two in the upper pool. I’d be very surprised here if Germany and Japan didn’t make it through. Both came into this tournament with medal hopes and have looked a tier above the other two in pool play. Maybe the wind and pressure will shake that up however.
Today there’s just the one game in this pool. I’m backing New Zealand to win and keep themselves in contention, and my (biased) heart says Germany to beat Japan and effectively confirm their progress.
Mixed Division
OK so after that somewhat quiet day in women’s we move on to Mixed which was NOISY.
The day started with the last games in initial pools.
Pool A
We didn’t get the full spectrum of possible drama in this pool as Japan took care of Argentina with ease. However the Switzerland Austria game went right to the wire. Switzerland took have 8-4 before an Austrian second half fightback took the game to universe. Switzerland clinched that win but unfortunately for them they needed to win by at least two (realistically 3) to progress. Despite the loss Austria ended up on top of a three way tie between themselves, Switzerland and Argentina. Incredibly close games between the three teams - a 2 point win by Austria over Argentina, a two point win by Argentina over Switzerland and a universe point win for Switzerland over Austria.
USA, Japan and Austria progress to power pools.
Pool B
No drama in terms of progression from this pool - as noted in yesterday’s roundup the top 3 teams here were already set. However with the top 3 going to the same power pool and bringing their results across that meant the Italy India game was a power pool game essentially.
What a game it was. India dominated the first half, finding precision hucks downwind and upwind and generating multiple upwind break chances, taking a couple to lead 8-5 at the half. But Italy really turned up their level in the second half and were worthy winners of a back and forth game. It was a game of two halves - the first mostly clean in both offence and the speed of the game, the second half slowing to more of a grind as defensive level went up, calls grew more frequent and the nerves started to show.
Some incredible performances in this game - Karan Sharma with 10 G/As was unstoppable looking in the first half in particular. In the second half Rossi, La Gala and Fantini were absolutely superb for Italy. After the disappointment of their loss to Australia this was a great bounceback for the Italians.
That means Australia, Italy and India progressed to power pools with Australia taking the prize of two wins between their games.
Pool C
A routine affair with the favourites dominating the remaining games
As expected, Canada, Germany and GB move to power pools.
Pool D
As with pool C, all games here went much as we would expect given the results to date
The big story was yesterday with Colombia’s loss to Chinese Taipei seeing them knocked out of the bracket as Malaysia couldn’t come to their rescue by upsetting Chinese Taipei. Not just a significant upset for this division but one that could potentially have World Games consequences now that Colombia mixed can only finish 9th at best (although it’s unlikely that they won’t qualify anyway).
France, Singapore and Chinese Taipei moved to power pools.
A reminder as well that these teams have also played an extra game each over the rest of the field due to starting in a larger pool.
Mixed Power Pools
No rest for the mixed division as they went straight into power pool action. We have two power pools of 6 teams and the top 4 from each go to quarters. Remember: each team carries two results in from their previous pool.
Power Pool E
The first power pool action saw what were expected comfortable wins for Canada and USA. The game I thought would be tightest was the Japan GB game but Japan won this extremely comfortably.
With GB having brought in a loss to Germany and now lost that game to Japan it’s hard to see them being able to progress from here - they’ll need to either pull off an upset vs the US or hope that Germany lose to Austria. Neither looks a likely outcome on current form.
Similarly the Austrians need to win against both Germany and GB tomorrow to progress.
All teams play twice again today with the main interest likely to be jostling for seeding between Canada, Japan and Germany outside of major shocks.
Power Pool F
Three priorities for the teams here:
a) come top 4 to progress to QF
b) Don’t come 4th so you avoid the US in QF
c) Win the pool to avoid the US until the final
First official power pool matchups went according to expectations but not blowouts here.
France, Italy and Australia do look like the top 3 teams but not by any great distance from the bottom 3. Every remaining game in this pool is likely to be a grind, particularly if the wind blows again.
I was just typing that France look to me like the favourites to win the pool but then I looked again at the fixtures and playing Australia and Italy is certainly going to be two incredibly tough games. This is certainly the pool to watch.
I would expect to see India and Singapore effectively playing for 4th in their upcoming matchup. But that’s not discounting Singapore’s capacity to pull off a shock against an Italian team that is coming off two very draining games.
Open Division
The power pools started in the open division. Two power pools of 4 with the top two straight to QF. Bottom two will crossover against the winners of the lower pools
Upper Power Pool E
US unsurprisingly won out comfortably and secure one of the two top spots. The big game was Australia and Japan and I’m not shocked Australia won but the 15-7 margin is a surprise to me - a real statement of intent from this Aussie side. That also secures them a QF berth. Tomorrow’s games then just see who will come first between USA and Australia and who will come 3rd between Japan and Colombia.
Upper Power Pool F
This was expected to be the tighter power pool and we certainly saw that.
A fantastic day for Belgium who continue to look better and better as the tournament goes on. They’ve secured themselves a quarter final berth with two wins today and, with only one game tomorrow and it being irrelevant since they top the pool no matter what, a chance to rest the legs of players like De Maree and Decraene who have been leading the charge for them.
A bad day for Canada with two losses meaning they are bottom of the pool no matter what they do in their last game vs Belgium. So that’s a meaningless result for both those teams (not a meaningless game - if you can’t find meaning in a game at worlds against a top team as a player there’s something wrong with you).
Germany and GB are competing directly for 2nd. Compensation for the loser is that, although you have to win a pre-quarter, you’ll end up on the other side of the bracket from USA.
Lower Pool G
Top two go through to a pre-quarter and France and Italy have booked their place. Unlucky for Singapore who lost on universe to Italy to miss out on a chance to progress.
Lower Pool H
Austria and New Zealand also book their passages to pre-quarters. So no last game drama in either lower pool in the final games tomorrow.
Open Pre-Quarters
What we know:
France and Italy will crossover against Canada and either GB or Germany.
New Zealand and Austria will crossover against Japan and Colombia - the exact matches to be determined by the final results in their pools.
