China didn't give us a chance.
Yesterday's round should have moved some teams closer to the semifinals. Norway's Ulsrud made an important step when he took on France's Dufour and is currently in second place. The Swiss lost to Scotland when Claudio Pescia's penultimate stone sent the dirt on the ice into the guard and the land of the Helvetic Cross continues to tailspin. The Scots, on the other hand, are tied for second and the semifinals are close. The Germans have their fifth loss in a row and seem to be missing Uli. This time they succumbed to the focused Americans. China outplayed us technically, tactically and mentally. A three in the fifth end sent the Czechs to their knees. Playing with no advantage behind the corner guards didn't pay off and the freebies traditionally don't apply to the Chinese. In the second half of the match, Jiří Snítil's team could not find a recipe for their opponent's flawless defence. The player of the round was probably the Norwegian viceskip Torger Nergard playing at 94% - decent!! The Norwegians are lucky to have good threes, remember Vagberg, without him Trulsen was half as good.