Israel - North Korea

The essence of it is that the two most productive group teams meet. The Swiss always show their highest class in groups and often become winners, having gathered one of the strongest lineups, so we can expect goals from them here. After yesterday's match with Peru, Canada is considered a strong favorite, there is no team higher than the Swiss and yesterday the team managed to come out unscathed from the match with the Finns. Today they will be more serious about the opponents, so it's hard not to expect goals from both teams. Especially since Canada has never played defensively and on the ice hockey.

The Slovakians leading Canada here demonstrate one of the better offensive and attacking games. The only tournament team, besides Canada, that has so far scored at least 4 goals against all opponents. Yesterday against the French they seemed unmotivated, scoring some goals by luck, but the team also lacked intensity, like they did against the Americans. Today is one of the most important matches, so I hope the team will be determined and focused. For Latvia, this is the most crucial match in the tournament. A loss would close all doors for them, and their defense this year, unusually, seems quite weak, with Merzlikins in goal not doing much to help. The blame should be placed on the defense, not him. The team is very dangerous on counter attacks, so they should have opportunities to take advantage of them. Especially since Hlavaj is in goal for the visitors, who is not known for his stability.

So far the Latvians have only scored goals against the Poles and the French, if we count with extensions. But the team is also capable of counter-attacking. They showed this in the game against the Swedes, but unfortunately it was only a short period. The weakest aspect of the Latvians here is defense. They do not show the same confidence as before, and the goalkeepers do not save enough. Gudlevskis, who has a clean sheet, is injured. So this decisive duel and the team cannot just attack and try to win. Moreover, in the guest goal, Hlavaj, who showed unstable form in the club, managed to keep a clean sheet only against the Poles.

As I mentioned, the Swiss always dominate in the group stage and can overcome anything. In the last two championships, they played in the group stage with Canada and won both times. When the team comes together, the main patriots who have arrived from the NHL always help the national team if they have the opportunity. Plus, there are the remaining players from the Swiss league. So they have been playing together for several years now. Although Canada may win, they are not stable - the coach always tries out different goalkeepers because after drawing against Austria, trust in Binnington disappeared, but yesterday in the game against the Finns he was trusted. Today, they still have faith in him. The Swiss had an easy game yesterday and played earlier, so they have enough time to recover. Such a coefficient for them is definitely worth the risk.