Euro hockey:Germany vs Sweden -by Arsenalno1

Bronze finals tend to be highly unpredictable seen as the two teams that play eachother usually come from devastating, morale-breaking defeats. Here, this would certainly go for Sweden, who were just 8 seconds away from making it all the way to the final but fell to what has been an incredibly strong Czech never-say-die collective.

>Germany, on the other hand, hardly belived much in making it to the final but came very close to upsetting the mighty Russians, so they too will be in a disappointed mood going into this match here.

But comparing the two defeats, it is definitely “Tre Kronor” who have the longest way to go when it comes to shaking off the bitter semi final disappointments.

It doesn’t have to influence this game much, though, but at the very least is a factor well worth taking in mind.

Another is home advantage, which is Germany’s – and their crowd have indeed provided them with an awesome support so far.

A third is how Germany’s style of play is. Very “anti-hockey” if I may say so. It takes a lot of patience to get somewhere against this team, and can we really expect the Swedes to display such patience here..? I really doubt it.

Also, for a powerhouse of hockey like Sweden undoubtedly are, only gold medals are counted so it will hardly make much difference whether they finish 3rd or 4th – from the general public’s perspective, and probably from the players’ too, although, naturally, – as sportsmen – they’ll take any medals they can get.

But for the Germans, winning the bronze will be considered a fantastic achievement and I am convinced we will see a 100% commited performance from them here.

I think they’ll keep doing what they’ve so successfully done so far in the tournament and the Swedes are likely very prone to frustration right now, so medals to the hosts simply ca not be ruled out and – at the odds we are offered – going with them can’t be a bad idea.

Pick: H ot, Odds: 3.89, Stake: 5, Bookmaker: Pinnacle