Namibia lose to Japan

NAMIBIA lost 6-3 to Japan in their opening match in Division 1 of the World Inline Hockey Championships in Passau, Germany, on Sunday.

Japan took the lead after five minutes but Vincent van Biljon equalised with a hard shot from an acute angle. Japan took the initiative in the second quarter, putting Namibia under pressure and managed to score two more goals in this period to take a 3-1 lead at halftime.Japan went further ahead with two more goals in the third quarter, while Basti Faber manage to pull a goal back for Namibia.Both teams went on the attack in the final quarter and a goal apiece made the final score 6-3 in Japan’s favour.Namibia had great support from about 200 boisterous fans who cheered non-stop for the duration of the match.Before the start of the tournament, Namibia played two warm-up matches against two of the strongest teams in the world, Germany and the United States, who are both competing in the Premier Division at the World Championships.On May 23 Namibia played Germany, who opened the scoring after only 28 seconds.Namibia managed to equalise, but from then on Germany took control and eventually won the match 9-1.Namibia’s performance was however very good, bearing in mind that Germany beat the Czech Republic 10-0 in their opening match at the World Championships on May 27.On May 25, Namibia played the top-ranked team in the world, the United States.Team USA scored four goals during the first quarter, but Namibia managed to keep the goals to three per quarter for the following three quarters.Basti Faber scored Namibia’s only goal two minutes from time to make the final score 13-1 in the United States’ favour.Afterwards, Team USA players were highly complimentary of the Namibian effort, stating that Namibia displayed an excellent team effort spearheaded by the solid performance of the Namibia goalie, Erik Rodenwoldt.www.namibiasport.com.naJapan took the initiative in the second quarter, putting Namibia under pressure and managed to score two more goals in this period to take a 3-1 lead at halftime.Japan went further ahead with two more goals in the third quarter, while Basti Faber manage to pull a goal back for Namibia.Both teams went on the attack in the final quarter and a goal apiece made the final score 6-3 in Japan’s favour.Namibia had great support from about 200 boisterous fans who cheered non-stop for the duration of the match.Before the start of the tournament, Namibia played two warm-up matches against two of the strongest teams in the world, Germany and the United States, who are both competing in the Premier Division at the World Championships.On May 23 Namibia played Germany, who opened the scoring after only 28 seconds.Namibia managed to equalise, but from then on Germany took control and eventually won the match 9-1.Namibia’s performance was however very good, bearing in mind that Germany beat the Czech Republic 10-0 in their opening match at the World Championships on May 27.On May 25, Namibia played the top-ranked team in the world, the United States.Team USA scored four goals during the first quarter, but Namibia managed to keep the goals to three per quarter for the following three quarters.Basti Faber scored Namibia’s only goal two minutes from time to make the final score 13-1 in the United States’ favour.Afterwards, Team USA players were highly complimentary of the Namibian effort, stating that Namibia displayed an excellent team effort spearheaded by the solid performance of the Namibia goalie, Erik Rodenwoldt.www.namibiasport.com.na