WMXCC2016: all playoff pairings announced

The group stage of the World Mixed Curling Championship in Kazan has come to an end. All participants of the playoff matches have been determined after the evening session.

Croatia-Netherlands, 10-2

The Dutch team was not able to win a single match at the Kazan championship but Team Croatia also didn’t benefit from the victory in this match – their total score was not enough for them to get into the playoffs.

“This is amazing, simply incredible! We were on a roll today; it was great experience for us! We failed to progress to the playoffs but we’ve fulfilled our tasks for the tournament; we’ve even over-fulfilled them! It’s for the first time that we play with this roster; we haven’t had any opportunities to practice as we have no ice arenas for curling in our country, just for figure skating, ice hockey and speed skating. That’s why this result is more valuable for us than gold medals. You can find it odd but we are insanely happy!”

“We enjoyed every minute we spend in Kazan; it was great! It’s our first world championship; we cannot compare it with anything but I cannot imagine a better event management! For us, it’s not the end but the beginning, beginning of our long journey in the curling world,” Team Croatia’s vice skip, Iva Roso, shared in her interview.

Andorra-Korea, 3-9

“We did quite well at the championship; we played a few successful matches, including the one against Team Belgium. We did well today too but we always lack something. We are not satisfied with the result. We were aware that we will not make the playoffs but we could win 2 or 3 matches, why not? But we failed and it’s not the worst result for a debut at the world championship,” said Andorra’s second, Josep Duro.

“I think we will stay in Kazan for a while. We will get to know the Russian culture. It’s wonderful! Kazan is the city of Tolstoy, Pushkin, Chaliapin, and the entire world knows about them. Andorra is no exception. We want to see the Russian theatre, Swan Lake ballet. Tomorrow we will go to Sviyazhsk. This is the island that Pushkin wrote about in his fairy-tale, the one that was turned into opera by Rimsky-Korsakov! I cannot transform into a bumblebee that’s why we will travel there by ship,” Josep Duro revealed his background knowledge about the Russian culture.

Austria-Canada, 4-6

Only a victory could propel the Austrians to the playoffs but just like it was expected the Canadians were in a league of their own and won the match to place first in the group without any lost points. But to Team Austria’s credit, they put up a good fight during the game.

“It was not such an important match for us because we’ve accomplished our tournament tasks long time ago. But we didn’t want to lose a match before the playoffs – our opponents shouldn’t know about our vulnerabilities. From now on we cannot lose a single game – any mistake will be fatal. We should stretch our winning streak to eleven matches; we can do it,” said Brad Thiessen, the second player of Team Canada.

“The defeat upset us but it was our fault and ours only. We needed to show top-class curling to beat Team Canada. We were close but we still lacked something,” Austria’s Celine Moser said in her interview.

France-Belgium, 8-3

France wrapped up its performance at the tournament on a high note, posting a 8-3 win. For Team Belgium, the Kazan tournament was not the best one in their career. They suffered seven defeats.

“We fought and played for ourselves, for our flag. For our families. We didn’t believe that we will get into the playoffs. We don’t have so much experience; it would have been an impossible mission. We took two victories and it’s quite a good result for now,” said Mathieu Dorbe, the second player for the French national team.

USA-Latvia, 5-3

It was the key match of the day. The contenders for Group D’s final playoff berth faced off in a dramatic game. The winner was progressing to the next stage whereas the loser was about to be sent home packing. No wonder that the match was tough and careful; both teams didn’t take unnecessary risks and were mainly playing defense. After eight ends, the score was even, 3-3, and an extra end was contested to decide the fate of the playoff berth.

The US curlers placed their guards and had stones on both sides of the house. Team Latvia risked and their skip shot the last stone practically in the button of the house. The US team stopped the game for a consultation with their coach. By producing a perfect hammer, Team USA managed to take out Latvia’s stones.  

“Yes, sometimes no matter how much experience you have, however professional you are, it is really difficult to decide which shot to make. That’s why we have timeouts. There’s time to figure out our next move, to discuss, to make decision with a cool head. The main thing is not to burn ourselves out, not to let emotions and nerves get in the way. The situation was challenging; apart from Canada four teams were fighting for the right to qualify for the playoffs.”

“Everything was in our hands – you win and move to the next round! Team Latvia is a great rival but our team is also experienced. Our team is made of the country's best curlers; they won at the national tournament to get here,” the US team’s head coach, Robert Walstad, said after the match.

Two more playoff berths were contested in tiebreakers.

Czech Republic-Denmark, 10-3

“Our thoughts were not about this game; we failed to muster up our strength…I still think of the morning meet where everything was in our hands. It was our big fail but we didn’t want to revisit this moment all the time,” the second player of the Danish team, Asmus Joergesen, said with bitterness.

“This is amazing! Our team did it! We made it to the playoffs! It’s no coincidence that we reached the elimination round; from now on we need to give it all and perform as successfully as possible. We are aware that we are about to play tough matches because we will have the lowest seeding. But in fact there are no random teams in the playoffs,” noted the second player of the Czech Republic team, Jindrich Kitzberger.

England-Finland, 5-6

“We are extremely happy that we won. It was not even that important to get into the playoffs. The main thing was to achieve the task at hand and to turn tables on the English team for a recent defeat. I don’t think that this game will very much affect our physical condition; the round of 16 match will be held only at 9:30 in the morning. We will have time to recover. On the contrary, in today’s match we had the opportunity to our check our tactical schemes before the playoffs. We were not able to achieve everything we planned; we’ll have time to give it some thought,” the lead of the Finnish team, Jenni Rasanen, said in his post-match interview.

“What can we say; we’ve let ourselves down. We failed to deliver the stone to an empty house. My shot was weak; to be on the safe side I didn’t put much strength into it. I’m lost for words,” said regretfully Gregg Dunn, the skip of Team England.

Therefore, the pairings in the round of 16 have been determined as follows:

Canada - Czech Republic

Hungary - Japan

New Zealand - Sweden

Scotland - USA

Turkey - Germany

Poland - Korea

Switzerland - Finland

Italy - Russia