2013 Senior World Championship: A hard blow for the USA

The United States swallowed water at home during the quarter finals of the 2013 World Championships of Inline Hockey in Anaheim. Facing a surprising Swedish team, the Americans missed their chance to add a fifteenth title to their world title list...

Par alfathor
Publié le 20 July 2013 - Mis à jour le 11 May 2025 - 5836 Lectures - 0 commentaire(s)

The sky has fallen on the Americans

While the American organizers had been announcing since their application in 2009 that those world championships would be huge, the sky fell on them with the elimination of the USA. That result sounded like a sanction for an organization that was far below the standards of a world championship. The gods of inline-hockey decided otherwise: the world champion would be Canadian or Czech in 2013. The Americans will find comfort in a medal in the women’s category – it remains to know of which color it will be. Answer after the USA-Canada final.

The Swedish executioner

In quarter finals, Sweden clashes with the United States. Sweden is a newcomer in the competition, and the first games led us to believe that there would be a big level gap between the two teams.

Let’s add to the equation the intergalactic void that crossed the minds of the Americans during the game… and let’s not forget that gigantic Swedish goalkeeper.

The game finished with overtimes. The Swedish goalkeeper literally created a breathtaking surprise. Only the mad cries of the yellow-and-blue supporters would break the silence of the unbelieving American crowd.

That team, trained for the win and the show, was knocked down in quarter finals by a modest team, technically inferior, but who took up the game with more passion.

The other quarter finals

The whole schedule of the day was turned upside down. As soon as the first game, staging France against Switzerland, the ground was impracticable due to technical problems: all the games had to be postponed by one hour because of an improper cleaning of the area.

The French gave way to the semi finals to far better disciplined Swiss players. In the next quarter final, the Czechs showed their skills against the English players who would rather aim at the classification games.

Last but not least, the quarter final opposing Italy to Canada maintained the suspense. The Canadian needed all their experience to impose themselves at last.

The Semi Finals

Therefore, the semi finals witnessed a game with Sweden and Canada. All interest vanished after 10 minutes: Canada took off and got its ticket to the final. The Swedish were still over the moon after having beaten the titleholders.

The other semi-final game staged Switzerland against the Czech Republic. After a terrible start, the Eastern players caught up little by little and equalized 26 seconds before the end. Such a cruel fate for the Helvetian team: The Czechs won at the overtimes.

The finals and the classification games

Canada and the Czech Republic fight against each other in Final, while Switzerland and Sweden play for bronze. France bears the cost of the American defeat: they have to meet in the game for the 5^th place.

In the World Cup race, the final will oppose Argentina to Brazil.

Women’s category: Canada wants to keep the title

The long-awaited final between Canada and the United States will take place indeed, for lack of substential rivals. Behind the two key-nations of the discipline, the game for the bronze is unprecedented: New Zealand meet Columbia. The other teams will play the classification games.

Back to square one

After having played at the Honda Arena, the teams go back to Huntington Beach. Going back to 500 places will be quite a shock! The organizers thought on too big a scale, they thought they were the strongest, they are now totally overtaken by events. France should have no problem doing better for the worlds in Toulouse next year.

5^th day of competition

Senior Men

Australia	2 – 3	Brazil
China	8 – 9	Namibia
France	2 – 5	Switzerland
Latvia	4 – 9	New Zealand
Great Britain	3 – 12	Czech Republic
Colombia	3 – 4	Mexico
Canada	5 – 2	Italy
Argentina	4 – 2	Germany
India	1 – 13	Japan
Sweden	4 – 3	USA
Namibia	6 – 3	Venezuela
Latvia	10 – 2	Australia
Great Britain	0 – 3	France
Switzerland	3 – 4	Czech Republic
USA	4 – 2	Italy
Brazil	4 – 3	New Zealand
Germany	4 – 2	Colombia
Canada	6 – 2	Sweden
Mexico	0 – 4	Argentina