On Monday, May 8, the Russian team will face off against the host team of the World Cup, Germany. According to the head coach of the Russians Oleg Znarka, his team's rivals have a strong team and played well against the Swedes, despite the devastating defeat. The coach of the German team is sure that the match with Russia will be just one more challenge for his wards, which does not need to be prepared in a special way.
The Germans were never considered to be particularly strong in hockey, writes "The newspaper. Ru ". Before reaching the quarter-finals in 2016 and conceding there to the Russians (1: 4), the German national team could not overcome the group stage of the World Cup for several years in a row. In the first round of the home World Cup, the Germans already managed to defeat the US team in the regular time of the match (2: 1), earning their first points in the tournament. True, in the next match, the Bundestim got to the Swedes, losing with the score 2: 7. But losing one of the strongest teams in the world is not so scary, after all, you can score points at meetings with such representatives of group A as Latvia, Italy and Denmark.
The Germans tried to collect at the World Championship maximum combat strength. Approached by three players from the National Hockey League: goalkeeper, "New York Islanders" Thomas Grays, his team-mate, defending Dennis Seidenberg, as well as Tobias Reader of the "Arizona Coyotes". Because of the ocean could not fly only Leon Dreisaitl, who currently plays for Edmonton Oilers and last night issued a hat-trick at the gate of Anaheim Ducks in the sixth match of the semifinal series of the playoffs of the Western Conference, which allowed his team to level The final score of the confrontation, 3-3. As part of the Bundestim, you can identify the most experienced defender of Christian Erhoff, who spent 10 years in the NHL and has experience of performing at three Winter Olympics.
The coach of the German national team Sturm said that he would not somehow especially prepare his team for a meeting with Russia. We need to do absolutely the same thing as always, he said.. At the same time the captain of the German national team Seidenberg admitted that in the upcoming match his team should hope for success. The Russian team has great skill, we understand that it will be very difficult to play with this team, he said.. Striker Dominik Kaun assured that his team will try to present a big surprise.
Russia and Sweden have similar teams in the level, so it will not be easier, he is sure.
Russian coach Oleg Znarok respectfully spoke about the German team. This is an excellent, disciplined team, well prepared physically, and with an excellent goalkeeper, noted Znarok.
According to the president of the Russian Hockey Federation Vladislav Tretyak, the match before the Victory Day will traditionally be very difficult, because on this day you can not lose.