Czech Republic - Italy, men. Match of the year.
We have the same LSD as the Italians, that is 185.4. The Italian has chosen the right side of the coin and has the advantage. Welcome to the blog to all (J,J,I,T, etc) who are interested in this very important match. I apologize for my strange Chenglish, but hopefully it's at least somewhat understandable. Let's go to the first end: The nervousness is evident. We're playing the draw, but we're guard, which is fine. Italian draw is long and Sam hits a come around the tee. Arman shifts slightly and Honza plays a great pocket shot. Ferraza plays clearing and it's a stay and Italian red moves into the back circles. We pass the guard even though we wanted a come around. Italian unwanted chip doesn't change the situation much. Marek is a little bit shorter, so guard again. Mosaner is long - on nine. Marek from the other side (inturn) and we have three better in the ring. The Italian has to freeze on the tee. He's a little shorter. We've got two and we're over with the guard. Pilzer plays a hit and roll, but it's a hit, but the roll is out. We play guard again. I don't think so. It's a freeze to the back stone, probably some kind of safety. The important thing is Pilzer is narrow and we're writing two. 2nd end: Sam is playing well. Stone on five, slightly off axis guard 2+ in front of him. The Italian has the corner guard and after our hit, there's another one on the same side. After the clear, we play center guard again and we're slightly off axis again. The Italian already slides our stone on five outside the circles and we play a nice run back, after which there is nothing in the circles. Center guard and two corner guards on the same side. Mark copies Mosaner and we're in the front four feet and the Italian is pushed to the back four feet. Red tap back is long and we don't know who has the shot rock. Lukas will probably move. Super shift! Yellow rocks behind him on the center line behind the guard and a red behind the tee. Now we have one. Italian clear doesn't solve anything and we'll put the center guard back in. Pilzer plays a draw, but maybe it can't get any better. I'm guessing our one. That's right. We're having fun without an advantage and we're up 3-0. 3. end: We've got two in the ring, on five and on the tee, in a row. The Italian has the corner guard. We played a roll from the red stone in the circle and thus we even have three stones behind us. The Italian plays a double, but only knocks out one. We're playing in the middle and it's about not making stupid shots. Honza (Jenda) hits a red and rolls out, but there was no other way. Ferrazza plays soft with a roll, but not much effect. Three of ours and an Italian freeze on them. Marek plays a double, sacrificing our stone, but he is too fast and the Italian stone ends up on the jam. Mosaner uses the resulting pocket and plays into it. We have a second and a third stone. A good clear, and Pilzer plays a stay. We have a double, but we go through with tremendous speed and Pilzer has a three. Three ends later, 3-3, and we've got the advantage for the first time in the match. 4th end: After seven stones, we have a stone in the circle on the tee, 5 feet from center. Corner guard on each side and we play split the house and have two away from each other. After the roll we have the stones close together but behind the corner guard (about halfway) and exactly behind each other. mosaner plays a freeze. Nice. He's the best, but he's a little over-rotated. We're gonna have to try the clock work. A bad guess means we've overswept a bit, and we've got the best, but after a little clink and the Italian freezes again. Everything's back in circles behind the corner guard. We need a little tap back. Here we go. We've shifted and Pilzer has to respond with another freeze. The red stone is the best now and we need to move the Italian stone slightly and we could have a two. We're guarding it well, and after the touch, the stones are shifting so that we really have a two. Nice!!! state 5 : 3. 5th end: Mosaner keeps Italy afloat! After a less interesting opening of the fifth end, the situation is as follows: Corner guard, behind him our stone, but in front of him on freeze Italian. Mark's stone is longer and the Italian tries another freeze on the same side. His stone turns over and we have another angle freeze with Luke. The stone arrives exactly in the right place. The Italian can run back, but he's afraid of it. Pilzer will probably save the run back option for last. Now he's trying to go for the freeze. Stone's the best, but he can be moved out. Very nicely played. We've got two and Pilzer has a hard draw to three feet, and it's only half. It's good. We're writing for two. 7-3.rn
6th end: First stone on six. The Italian has the corner guard. We come in again within four feet and R. Arman tries the second corner guard. But he's in the circle and we roll from him to the middle. It almost works. The other Arman goes behind the corner guard and we clear the corner guard. Jenda flawless. Three of ours in the circle, one red is third in the order. There are no guards yet. 'Guards, but after our blunder, three Italian stones in the circle, our lone one is third in the order. everything is scattered freely around the circles. We play the roll to the worst position and the Italian still lives on three. Luke plays roll to best and we hope for a mistake from our opponent. There are still three stones to go. Pilzer rolls out. The Italian has two, but they don't go out at the same time. We play a stay or small roll. We're at our best now and Pilzer plays stay on two. He's doing well. After that mistake, it still worked out well. 7 : 5. 7th end: After six stones, we have a corner guard in red, with an Italian stone in the four, followed loosely by ours on the tee line. We play second better and Mosaner will tackle him. After a series of draws and hits, we have two in the ring (split the house) and play the third. We're taking a timeout, we don't want to mess this up. The intention doesn't work and we bid double with a roll. But the Italian misses. We shift. Now comes the rock of the game. Pilzer plays a freeze. If he doesn't, he loses the game. If he does, we're in trouble. A very decent attempt, but it's coming. Now! A moment of suspense. 4 and a win. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The final score is 11 to 5 after seven ends. Quite a dominant affair. If it wasn't for the two errors that gave the Italians a sniff, it would have been a performance to take into other matches. It's still not all sunshine, but we'll give the Scots a try and I think we could give them a go.