TWG Blog: 50 days left and Sweden preview!
Now we have 50 days left until the first floorball match will be played at the World Games 2022. The next team in our countdown that will participate in July in Birmingham, Alabama is the defending champions, Sweden!
The journey to the 2022 World Games began Floorball World Cup 2020 in Helsinki in December last year where the five best countries, best AOFC and best AMER teams qualified together with hosts USA for 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama, USA.
Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic and Switzerland were the first to qualify followed by Thailand who beat the Philippines in a nervous penalty shootout for 13th position and qualifying for Birmingham and Canada which finished 12th and was the highest ranked AMER country. Latvia completed the World Games lineup by beating Norway in 5th place.
Sweden are gold medalists from the previous world games in WrocławIn 2017, the Czech Republic beat in the semifinals and then Switzerland in the final to become world champions in 2017. They made it through the group stage with two wins against the USA (20-0) and Switzerland (3-0). In the semifinals, the Swedes met against a stable Czech team which they sent 5-2 with two very late goals. The gold game was very close and close with Switzerland leading 5-2 in the second period before a 3-goal blitz of 65 seconds brought the Swedish team back to level before adding two later to win the match and gold medal 7 -5 in the final .
The expectations as always in a country like Sweden are almost always gold at a big event and this year it will not be different on the way to Birmingham as defending champions from the World Games and world championships besides being the number 1 ranked team in the world. Expectations will be heavy on their shoulders, but the talent on show with the Swedish squad will be difficult to manage. Recently at the 2020 Word Championships in Helsinki, Finland, the Swedes managed to beat the Finns at home to become world champions, take revenge for two previous final losses and show that they are the best floorball nation in the world.
Sweden will try to continue its rich form after winning World Cup gold in December. The upcoming WFCQ event for men in Koceni, Latvia will host Sweden who will be favorites in their group to qualify for the world championships for men later this year in Switzerland. This event will be a good warm-up event for the Swedish team to test new tactics, players and strategies before the World Games, such is the strength of the Swedish team. With the exception of a major outrage, they should comfortably qualify for the world championships from their group.
Sweden will compete in the men’s WFCQ 2022 EUR1 event in Valmiera, Latvia in May for the World Championships in November 2022. They will therefore have a warm-up, international competition before the games in July to strengthen their team and tactics before Birmingham. This should be a help to get better team cohesion and cohesion before the World Games.
How well will Sweden do at the World Games in Alabama? Only time will tell, but they are one of the favorites with a talented, experienced and proven squad that wants to consolidate its status as the best in the world by winning another World Games gold medal.
The last edition 2017 in Wrocław was won by Sweden and beat Switzerland in the final with 7-5. Finland came 3rd followed by the Czech Republic in 4th place, the USA in 5th place and hosts Poland in 6th place.
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