Italy defeated the USA with a peremptory 11-4 and slipped away the fifth victory at the World Cup 2023 of men’s curling, underway on the ice in Ottawa (Canada). The blues, who had ruled New Zealand during the night, managed to beat the PyeongChang 2018 Olympic Champions in what was a crucial crossroads for the knockout stage qualification ambitions (the top two in the round robin go directly to the semi-finals, the teams between third and sixth place play the playoffs).
The tricolor quartet, which in the past world championship wore the bronze medal around its neck, is now at the sixth place in the general standings and keep dreaming big, but the next three matches will be really decisive: tomorrow (3.00 pm) against the very strong Sweden of the phenomenon Niklas Edin, then at 8.00 pm against the affordable Czech Republic and Friday 7 April (3.00 pm) against Japan (crossing with Asians could be a real tiebreaker).
THE breaking latest news OF THE MATCH
John Shuster and his teammates start off on the right foot and take advantage of the last shot to score the first point of the game. Joel Retornaz, Amos Mosaner, Sebastiano Arman, Mattia Giovanella they go wild in the next fraction and bring home a couple of valuable points. The Azzurri pack the magic in the next two partials, tearing his hand twice in a row with a double 3-0.
The tricolor quartet thus flies to 8-1 and puts the Americans in serious difficulty, who however have a reaction before the interval and with the hammer manage to score three points to shorten the distance (8-4). Upon returning to the ice, Italy always holds the ball in hand: empty hand in the sixth end and then another three-point play, this time with the hammer advantage, to hoist himself to 11-4 and force the Americans to surrender with three ends to spare.
THIRTEENTH WORLD CURLING DAY RESULTS
Italia vs USA 11-4
Switzerland vs Türkiye 8-2
Japan vs Czech Republic 9-3
Norway vs Germany 5-3
WORLD CURLING RANKING
1. Norway 7 wins (8 games played)
1. Switzerland 7 (8)
3. Sweden 6 (7)
4. Canada 5 (7)
4. Scotland 5 (7)
6. Italia 5 (8)
6. Japan 5 (8)
8. Czech Republic 3 (8)
8. USA 3 (8)
10. Germania 2 (8)
11. New Zealand 1 (7)
12. South Korea 1 (8)
13. Türkiye 0 (8)
Photo: WCF/Steve Seixeiro
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