Recap

Switzerland played against Ukraine for 3rd place in Group E. Winning the game was crucial to define the opponent of the next phase.

The game started displaying all Swiss defensive weaknesses. Ukraine could score most of their goals with minimal effort (13 goals in parity situations) due to Switzerland conceding a lot with mistakes in placement and naive changes of the opponent in man-marking that made goalkeeper Kaydi Xantippe’s life more complex than necessary.
In addition, basic errors like not raising the arm in a man-down situation or forgetting to cover for the rebound after a penalty shoot came on the top. With a more robust defense, the game could have turned to a different path.

On the other side, Switzerland confirmed again, as against Georgia, that this team can strike against any opponent.

Switzerland scored the 1 to 1 goal with Christian Würth exploiting a counterattack situation initiated by a steal from Alessandro Carnovale. The first quarter ended 5 to 3 for Ukraine, with Glenn Valsangiacomo scoring twice after a well-played man-up situation and a perfectly executed penalty shoot.

Valsangiamo was not to stop as he scored again in the second quarter with a well-executed rotation at 2 meters for the 4 to 6 result.

Switzerland won the third quarter showing its true potential once the defense holds. Valsangiacomo, Darian Adrovic, and Christian Würth scored on well-played man-up situations.

The last quarter showed some good conclusions from Christian Würth in man-up and Alessandro Carnovale with a long shot. Conversely, Ukraine scored repeatedly with six-on-six situations for the final result of 16 to 9.

Switzerland will play their next game on Wednesday, 12th of July, against the 3rd ranked team of group F as part of the quarterfinals for places 17 to 24.
The team coached by Sébestien Viriot and Zoltan Hyc will have to keep the morale high and work towards the first win at the tournament.

Official Game Report