Finland can easily beat the bottom of the table. On the other hand, host Latvia is under pressure, and the decision to participate in the quarter-finals may be against Germany.

FBefore the duel with Germany on Saturday in Ice Hockey World Cup in Riga took the lead in Group B. The defending champions easily and spectacularly won 3-0 (2-0, 1-0, 0-0) over bottom-of-the-table Italy, without any points. After four matches, the Finns now beat Germany and the United States (both 9) by ten points, which had previously missed host country Latvia for their second defeat in the tournament.

Latvia lost to USA 2: 4 (2: 2, 0: 2, 0: 0) and thus are under pressure regarding possible participation in the quarter-finals. The host nation for the World Cup will be Germany’s last match in the preliminary round on Tuesday, which also does not play on Friday.

In Group A, the Czech Republic won an important match against Sweden 4: 2 (0: 2, 0: 0, 4: 0). With four goals in the final third, the Czechs scored their first three points in the fourth match, which was urgently needed as the quarter-finals approached. Former world champion Sweden has to worry about participating in the knockout round two days after their furious 7-0 win over Switzerland. The Swiss national team qualified with 8: 1 (1: 1, 4: 1, 3: 0) against Slovakia, and after four matches, they drew four points with Russia and Slovakia at the top of the table.