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Czech Republic - Italy. Actually, the Italians.

The first end of this important game is wide open. After the opening draw, it's down to zero or one. LSD had the better of the Italians, so we can't make a mistake. Just a skip, and it's really zero, or blank. 2nd end. Finally a stay and the Italians have to play a hit. And again, blank. Iveta plays a draw. We're down to five on the center line. Apollonio plays hit and roll. She's out and we go back in the ring. The Italian will play clear. It's zero number two. That was boring number two. But I think that's about to change. 3. end: And we're gonna play. We have a center guard and the Italians are in the back of the circle. Clara hits a yellow stone and we stay in the back of the circles. The Italians hit again and we play in the right corner of the circles. Eva plays out turn hit and it's a hit but our stone is out. The Italian doesn't know what to do next, they probably haven't discussed this yet. We're now dealing with a tricky situation in the aforementioned corner. The Italians have rolled in and we're playing a double. Iveta was accurate, but the Italians can still go to double. Come around Apollonio's behind and we're short on the draw, so the Italian calls for two. No problem. Italy - 2, we - 0. 4th end: We're halfway through. There's a corner guard, after we couldn't keep two stones in the circle, but no matter, the two is still there for us. A decent come around to the back circles played by Zuzka increases our stock price. Apollonio plays in front of us and is better, maybe a little exposed. Let's try a tap back. We're passing. The Italian guards and we have to play a draw to one. We have about five feet. Iveta played it exactly, with only a slight overthrow. 1 : 2. 5th end. Eva tries it with her second stone. Unfortunately we're in the guard, but it was also slow - I hear 15. The Italian tries a clear. It comes out halfway, our stones are gone, but the yellow is still there. But Zuzka is also in the guard. What about the Italian? She doesn't know!!! Finally she made the right decision, unfortunately for us. Come around ends on five exactly behind the center guard. We ignore him and play come around. We're tight and the Italian is on a roll. Luckily, she's long with her draw and we have to come around now. We're better, but we're visible. But the Italian is guarding the guard and we'll guard. The double guard is in place. The Italian only has a run back for two, but it's not easy. She just misses and we're up one. Break.

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6th end: We need to get a little more offensive, which is why we have a center guard at the two. The Italians are playing come-around inbounds and they're at the six. We're even going behind him on the tee, which is plan B. The Italians play the frontcourt and so do we. It's gonna be tight. And it is. The Italian goes through, we freeze the front Italian stone and the Italian plays clear, but it doesn't quite work out. We play guard because we still have one better one right on the tee. The Italian has to play tap, not easy. It doesn't work and we can guard the right side. We just can't open it up. We opened it up!!!! Fortunately, Apollonio doesn't have the nerve. She's fast and doesn't give up when she's offered a chance. Our one. 3-2. 7th end: There are two Italian guards and we have our stone behind one of them. After an Italian hit and roll out to the stone next to the corner guard, we play a come around around the corner guard on the outside. It would be cleaner to play a clear corner guard, but never mind. We're at the ten and Mosanera plays the running back. Very nicely played, but the Italian stone is all visible and Zuzka tries to knock it out. She's successful with a roll just outside the corner guard. It's played right around the corner guard, because the Italian has a rock there. Iveta tries to hit and roll in. She's successful. There's one of ours in the circles, but it's all visible. Hit and stay Mosanero. Iveta's hit and roll, there's room for it. We've moved a little bit, and maybe the roll is not there now. Apollonio tries to clear to zero at the end of the endgame, but it's a stay and he's got one. 3 : 3. 8th end. There's a number one center guard. But otherwise there's nothing else in play and we're playing behind him. We're at the six and the Italians are going to push us to the one. They're moving our rock and they're second, but they're behind the guard. We're a little long with our draw and the Italians have a pocket. They're playing a draw and the stones are so we can play a double. Well, well, well. We have two better stones, but there's still a pocket that solves it for Apollonio. The Italian stone is the best stone after the first skip stone. Iveta responds well, if only by a whisker. We have two better ones. The Italian is short and we're matching on three. Let's hope it works. It didn't. We're down to two. We're 5-3. 9th end: After five stones, we have three in the circle, one on the tee. After seven, we're down to one biter and the Italians are better. We're getting a little nervous and making some mistakes. The Italian is almost behind the corner guard, and there's a couple of our stones in front of the circle on the other side. Italaka plays come around to the side where she already has the stone. There's two yellows and we're playing a little risky to them. A light dink and tap back to three is playable. Mosanero is still playing. After the Italian stone, maybe we're one maybe not. After Ivette's stone, we're definitely one. Apollonio plays tap back and plays it well. He's got one and we have to freeze. There's still a danger of a four for the Italians. We're a little bit longer and that's enough for Apollonio to double on three. She succeeds almost completely, after a hit, the yellow is two and the score is 5 : 5 after nine ends. They've got a centre guard, then a pair of stones behind him. The tricky situation in front of the circle and in the front circles is solved by Eva with an excellent peel. Now the Italians have their stone in the back four feet. After a not-quite-accurate guard, we play a hit and a small roll to the back four feet. Mosanero tries a freeze,but it's not perfect. We rock out and the situation is probably going to repeat itself. The drama is reaching its peak. We play a bit of a timid stone after the Italian is tight in the ring. Apollonio doesn't play the last stone accurately and we're left with a winning one. We got it!!! 6 : 5