Not a promising start to the season
However, the Ukrainian national team has a very difficult time entering the new season. Experienced Prima became the killer of the “blue-yellows”. But already on the first lay, Artyom used all the extra cartridges on one open target. The Ukrainian spent a lot of time on the firing line and left for the second round only 17th. The lag behind the leader was more than 37 seconds.
On the rack, Prymi managed to shoot much better – one additional cartridge and the 10th position before passing the baton.
Next, Dmytro Pidruchnyi took the start. The captain of the team got on the nerves of the Ukrainian fans on the line of fire. The biathlete from Ternopil spent a total of 5 additional cartridges and pushed our national team to the 11th place. The lag behind the leader was already more than a minute.
Tsimbalu also failed to correct the situation. Bohdan spent one additional round on the bench, but he passed the rack perfectly – 5 out of 5. But even such excellent accuracy in the second shooting did not allow Tsymbal to raise the Ukrainian national team higher – 10th place.
Ukraine’s finisher was Dudchenko. Anton kept a place in the top ten for our national team – 9th position with zero penalty rounds and 13 additional rounds.
Not a very encouraging start of the season from Ukrainian biathletes.
Almost during the entire race, only two national teams – Norway and Germany – fought for victory. If before the last shot the Germans were behind the leader by 14 seconds, after the last eighth shot it increased to half a minute.
In the end, a confident victory for Norway led by Johannes Bö. The Germans came second. The French national team rounded out the top three winners.
Germany can be embarrassed for the second time in a row at the world championships
The German national team became the world champion in 2014. And already in 2018, she was embarrassed at the next World Cup, taking the last place in the group. Then the team lost to Mexico, won in Sweden thanks to a goal in the 90th + 5th minute, but lost to South Korea, conceding twice in stoppage time. And thereby continued the “curse of champions”, which France finally broke only in 2022.
Read more France breaks ‘curse of champions’ into 2022 World Cup play-offs
But if the “curse of champions” is broken in 2022, then Germany may not get out of the group at the World Cup for the second time in a row. And go home with shame.
Germany has one point after two rounds and is in last place in Group E. The team unexpectedly lost to Japan in the first round. And in the second round, she was close to defeating Spain, but saved herself at the end of the match.
Leading this quartet is Spain, which defeated Costa Rica 7:0, and played the already scheduled match against Germany 1:1.
Germany’s affairs would have been more disappointing had Japan not lost to Costa Rica in a similarly unexpected manner. So both of these national teams have three points each.
What does anyone need to leave the group
The clear favorite of this group is Spain. It will reach the 1/8 finals even if it loses to Japan, and Costa Rica will not beat Germany in the parallel match.
The advantage of the Roha Furies is that they won the first match with a score of 7:0. And if the number of points is equal, the team with the better difference in goals scored and conceded will be higher. So the Spaniards have a significant handicap over their rivals.
The Japanese have to play no worse than Costa Rica – win or draw. But a defeat will definitely prevent them from reaching the 1/8 finals.
Accordingly, Costa Rica must win (and then the team does not depend on the results of the parallel match). Or they will settle for a draw if Japan loses.
Germany must win. Although even this may not be enough. This will happen if:
Japan will win, but Spain will have a better goal difference than Germany
Germany will win by a narrow margin, and Japan and Spain will play in a goalless draw when the Japanese score one more goal than the Germans in their match (assuming Germany wins 1-0 and Japan and Spain draw 2-2). Then Germany and Japan will have the same goals-conceded difference, but the Japanese will outscore the Germans precisely because of the greater number of goals.
Will Germany get out of the group in the playoffs
Despite the fact that the fate of reaching the 1/8 finals depends not only on the Germans themselves, but the “Bundestim” is the main favorite in the fight for the second ticket. For example, betting company Favbet accepts bets with a coefficient of 1.06 for Spain to win the group. But for the fact that Germany will also get out of this group – 1.19.
Although Japan blew in the first match against Germany, it will be a bit difficult for the “blue samurai” to repeat their achievement in the match against Spain. Therefore, bets on their exit from the group are accepted with a coefficient of 7.5. And also with odds of 9.5 that they will do it in the first place.