Barcelona 2019 WRG has its finalists in rink hockey. In the male tournament, Argentina and Portugal will play for the title on Sunday at 6 PM, while in the female world championship the final will be Argentina-Spain as in Nanjing 2017.
It has been an amazing friday in the Palau Blaugrana in Barcelona: three semifinals of four required extra time to determine a winner.
Argentina and Spain played hard to reach the female final. The first semifinal between Argentina and Chile goes to penalties because Chile tied twice during the regular time a no goal were scored in the extra time. The error of Francisca Donoso and the goal of Maria Agudo in the fifth penalty sent Argentina to its 6th finale in 14 edition of this world championship.
Spain suffered too to gain the third final in a row. Opposed to Italy, that reached the semifinals 23 years after the last presence, the reigning champion dominated the game, attacking continuously the Italian cage. The zone defense set up by Italy and the extraordinary performance of its goalie Veronica Caretta, allowed Italy to stay in the game for a long time. After a 1st half without goals, the Italian team go ahead first thanks a perfect counterattack. Only in the last minute of the 2nd half, Spain succeed to score twice but, when the 9th final seemed to be achieved, Italy tied on penalty and the game went to extra time. The decisive goals arrived in the 2nd extra time, letting Spain be the second finalist.
Argentina doubled its presence in the finals of this WRG after the first semifinal of the male world championship. The game against France was the only one in which 50 minutes were enough to define the winner. Despite another good performance, France was not so effective as in previous games. The Argentinian goalie Costantino Acevedo saved a penalty and a direct shot during the game and, after a 1st half without goals, at the beginning of the 2nd Argentina scored twice with Alvarez and Romero and Nicolia close the match scoring the 3-0 in the last minutes of the game.
The semifinals' day ended with the most classic of the european games: Spain-Portugal. The result of the game was surprising: the home team got scratched from the world championship and Portugal stays in the final for the second time in a row. Tomorrow Portugal will try to get a title missing sing 2003. This amazing game showed rink hockey at its best. Spain went ahead first in the last seconds of the 1st half with Adroher and Portugal tied in the first minutes of the 2nd half with Alves. In this game too, the goalies were the main protagonists, but a Angelo Girao needs a special mention: after the three direct shot saved to Italy in the quarterfinals, he replies yesterday night saving three determinant direct shots to Spain. Portugal scored the 2-1 10 minutes before the end of the game with its captain Joao Rodrigues, but the reaction of Spain led to the goal of Alabart that tied the game at 23.35. The decisive goal of Portugal arrived at the very beginning of the 2nd extra time with the double of Joao Rodriguez, while Silva scored the last goal when the cage of Spain was unattended because Spain tried to play with a rink player more.
The finals are scheduled on Sunday: at noon for the female and at 6 PM for the male. Today will be the last day for the other rink hockey competition at Barcelona 2019 WRG. In World Championship, Vilanova will host the finals for the position from 5th to 8th, both male and female. In Intercontinental Championship, in Sant Cugat the last round of the female tournament in scheduled in the morning, while the finale of the male tournament starts from 2.30 PM. The final for the first place will be Andorra-Mozambique at 10 PM. The rink of Terrassa will host the finals of the Challengers Championship whose final is Netherlands-Belgium at 8 PM.
WORLD ROLLER GAMES - BARCELONA 2019 - RINK HOCKEY
Results of the 7th matchday - Friday, July 12th
MALE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Semifinals
Semifinals 1st/4th place
Argentina - France 3-0
Portugal - Spain 4-2 (after extra time)
Semifinals 5th/8th place - Isaac Galvez Vilanova
Angola - Chile 7-4
Italy - Colombia 8-5
FEMALE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Semifinals
Semifinals 1st/4th place
Chile - Argentina 3-4 (after penalties)
Italy - Spain 2-4 (after extra time)
Semifinals 5th/8th place - Isaac Galvez Vilanova
Switzerland - Portugal 0-5
France - Germany 2-3
MALE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
Semifinals 1st/4th place
Switzerland - Andorra 3-4
Germany - Mozambique 5-7
Semifinals 5th/8th place
Egypt - Brazil 1-12
Great Britain - Australia 6-2
FEMALE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP
India - PR China 28-0
Great Britain - Colombia 3-4
Standing: Colombia and Great Britain 12, Japan and USA 6, India 3, PR China 0
MALE CHALLENGERS CHAMPIONSHIP
Group A - 4th round
New Zeland - Belgium 2-8
Austria - Chinese Taipei 15-0
Uruguay - Japan 3-2
standing: Belgium and Uruguay 12, Austria and Japan 9, New Zeland 3, Chinese Taipei 0.
Group B - 4th round
PR China - Netherlands 0-38
USA - Macau 10-11
Standing: Netherlands 12, India, USA and Macau 6, PR China 0.
WORLD ROLLER GAMES - BARCELONA 2019 - RINK HOCKEY
Schedule of the 8th matchday - Saturday, July 13th
MALE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Vilanova
5.00 PM Final 7/8 Chile-Colombia
10.00 PM Final 5/6 Italy-Angola
FEMALE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP - Vilanova
2.30 PM Final 7/8 Switzerland-France
7.30 PM Final 5/6 Portugal-Germany
MALE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP - Sant Cugat
2.30 PM Final 7/8 Egypt-Australia
5.00 PM Final 5/6 Brazil-Great Britain
7.30 PM Final 3/4 Switzerland-Germany
10.00 PM Final 1/2 Andorra-Mozambique
FEMALE INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPIONSHIP - Sant Cugat
10.30 AM Colombia-PR China
12.30 PM USA-Japan
MALE CHALLENGERS CHAMPIONSHIP - Terrassa
10.00 AM Final 9/10 New Zeland-PR China
12.30 PM Final 7/8 Japan-Macau
3.00 PM Final 5/6 Austria-USA
5.30 PM Final 3/4 Uruguay-India
8.00 PM Final 1/2 Belgium Netherlands
Follow WRG19 Rink Hockey livescores, standings and schedule here: www.rinkhockey.wrg2019.com
Media assets: https://bit.ly/2NgG1iz
PHOTO CREDIT: MARZIA CATTINI
