Germany’s national ice hockey team is looking forward to another quarter-final showdown in Riga against Switzerland. Before the knockout game on Thursday, the psychological duel with the arch-rival is on.
Riga again. Again against Switzerland. On Thursday, the recent German ice hockey history should be repeated against the archrival.
The selection of the German Ice Hockey Federation is also relying on the fluttering nerves of the Confederates before the World Cup quarter-final bang against the secret favorite Switzerland on Thursday (3.20 p.m. / Sport1 and MagentaSport) in the Latvian capital.
“The Swiss aren’t happy that the German is back in front of them,” said storm veteran Marcel Noebels, who shot Germany into the World Cup semi-finals two years ago with a splendid trick penalty against Switzerland in Riga. “Maybe I’ll do it again,” said Noebels with a smile.
“It might work”
The current German World Cup top scorer John-Jason Peterka – also there two years ago – said of the German leaders before the new duel: “Mental strength is especially important in tournaments like this. If you mentally pull them down a bit, it can work.”
Although Switzerland played a splendid World Cup preliminary round with eight NHL stars and confidently finished first in Group B, the DEB team is very confident after four wins in a row in Tampere. The fact that the Swiss are defeatable was demonstrated on Tuesday evening at the end of the preliminary round by World Cup co-host Latvia, who won the quarter-final ticket with a 4-3 win after extra time.
Twelve players from the German national team, which defeated Switzerland in the quarter-finals of the World Cup two years ago under the then national coach Toni Söderholm, are back again this time. “Of course you have that in your head, they will have it in your head too,” said DEB captain Moritz Müller. NHL forward Peterka of the Buffalo Sabers made it clear: “Of course we just want to do it again.”
“The past has shown that we can beat Switzerland”
It can be assumed that the Swiss players secretly fear Germany despite the great preliminary round so far. They saved a few stars against the Latvians for the more important duel on Thursday. Whenever Switzerland went into a knockout game against Germany in the recent past, they lost: Before 2021, that was already the case in the 2010 World Cup quarterfinals and in the Olympic decision game for the 2018 quarterfinals in Pyeongchang.
“The past has shown that we can beat Switzerland, even in crucial games. We intend to do the same this time,” said Captain Müller.
Now the conditions speak even more in favor of the neighboring nation than usual. The selection, already somewhat exaggeratedly described in the Swiss media as “the best World Cup team in history”, has played convincingly so far and even defeated the top nations Canada and the Czech Republic in the preliminary round.
“They won their group, they have an outstanding team. They have the big goal of becoming world champions,” said SC Bern striker Dominik Kahun, who wants to counteract this as a team: “We have a great team, we stick together – that decides such games.”
Sovereign against weaker teams
In addition to reaching the semi-finals, Germany is also concerned with qualifying directly for the Olympics, which would probably be perfect in the event of a win. So Söderholm’s successor Harold Kreis would have achieved both of the ambitious goals formulated by the DEB board at his World Cup premiere.
After the unfortunate defeats at the start, the first target – reaching the quarterfinals – was achieved despite good performances against the top nations Sweden (0:1), Finland (3:4) and the USA (2:3) thanks to some clear victories in the following Playing against Denmark (6:4), Austria (4:2), Hungary (7:2) and France (5:0). No DEB selection among Kreis’ predecessors had played so confidently against the supposedly weaker opponents in recent years.
Niederberger: “The team is top class”
“Every game, even if it was the defeats at the beginning, showed us how good we are. The team is top class,” said goalkeeper Mathias Niederberger about the team put together by Kreis without 15 injured top performers.
“With our squad, with our will, with our skills and our unity, it will be a very good game,” announced Kreis himself. “The Swiss will certainly not dictate the game. We will play against them on an equal footing.”
The veteran coach was assistant coach to the then national coach Uwe Krupp in 2010 when they won the quarter-finals in Mannheim. History can also repeat itself for Kreis.
Source: Stern
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