Olympic dream shattered: Italy is also subject to France

Unlike the bitter opening defeat against hosts Latvia Italy offered a good performance against France for long stretches. However, the Azzurri remained far too harmless on offense. The result: France with its NHL stars Alexandre Texier, Pierre-Édouard Bellemare and Antoine Roussel achieved an easy 2-0 victory. Before the final game on Sunday against Hungary, Italy no longer has a chance of winning the tournament and the associated Olympic ticket.

In the second tournament game, the Ireland team found significantly more freedom than in their debut against Latvia and managed to play better. However, minor individual mistakes and a lack of penetration ensured that France was the better team for long stretches. But Les Bleus repeatedly failed because of goalie Andreas Bernard, who not only thwarted a double chance from Charles Bertrand, but also kept the game open for a long time with further brilliant saves. On the other side, Tommaso Traversa had the Azzurri's best chance shortly before the first break, but he was unable to convert a cross pass from Stefano Giliati to make it 1-0. Sacha Treille becomes a terror in Italy After the first break, the French noticeably increased the speed again - with success, because in the 24th minute Bernard finally had to reach behind himself for the first time. The 1-0 went to Sacha Treille, who decisively deflected a shot from Hugo Gallet. Exactly 10 minutes after the opening goal, Grenoble professional Treille appeared again. This time he cleverly obscured the Kalterer goalkeeper's view of a Texier shot and again gave the target a minimal change of direction on the way into the goal. At this point, Enrico Miglioranzi was in the penalty box.

Enrico Miglioranzi and Co. fought against the defeat - without success. © FISG

The early preliminary decision was made with the score 2-0. Because Italy never really gave the impression that they could turn the result on its head that afternoon, even though the men around captain Daniel Frank played their best third of the tournament to date after the second half-time break. Only in the attacking third did they continue to have no luck. The best example: Alex Petan's great chance in the final phase, when the goal seemed completely abandoned, but goalie Henri-Corentin Buysse fished the hard rubber out of the air with a monster save. After that the soup was served and Italy's missed Olympic qualification became official. So for the Blue Team on Sunday against Hungary (13 p.m.) it's all about an honorable conclusion. France – Italy 2:0 France: Buysse (Hardy); Chakiachvili-Bault, Gallet-Manavian, Crinon-Thiry, Hecquefeuille; Roussel-Da Costa-Fleury, Texier-Bellemare-Bertrand, Rech-Claireaux-Bozon, Perret-Ritz-Treille, Douay. Coach: Bozon

Italy: Bernard (Fazio); Trivellato-Larkin, Glira-Spornberger, Miglioranzi-Casetti, Marchetti; Frank-Petan-Miceli, Frigo-Morini-Simon Kostner, Giliati-Alberga-Traversa, Diego Kostner-Hochkofler-Deluca, Magnabosco. Coach: Ireland

Gates: 1:0 Sacha Treille (23.23), 2:0 Sacha Treille (33.41) The table: Pos Team Games Points 1. Latvia 2 6 2. France 2 6 3. Italy 2 0 4. Hungary 2 0

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Olympic dream shattered: Italy is also subject to France

Nothing came of the great sensation of Italy's national ice hockey team at the Olympic qualifying tournament in Riga. After Friday's defeat against France, one thing is certain: the Blue Team will have to watch the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing.

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