Germany vs Kazakhstan Prediction: Kazakhstan will have to fight for survival

Prediction for the IIHF World Championship Germany vs Kazakhstan match which will take place on May 17th. Who will turn out to be stronger? Check the team conditions! Several betting options are available.

Germany was the finalist at the last World Championship, but the level of the teams at the 2024 World Championship is higher, and the task of reaching the playoffs will not be as easy. At the same time, the Germans still have a good chance of success. They have suffered two heavy defeats in four matches but came against the group favorites. They lost 6:1 to the Americans and the Swedes but are not the teams they currently compete with. More importantly, Harold Kreis' wards have beaten their direct rivals to reach the quarter-finals. First, they beat Slovakia 6:4; the day before, they thrashed Latvia 8:1. That was good enough for fourth place in Group B.

The level of ambition of Kazakhstan's national team before the start of every World Championship raises significant questions. We all know that they are capable of miracles when they are on fire. They almost made the playoffs at the 2021 World Championship, only to fall just short of the Canadians, who went on to win the tournament. There are other scenarios in which the Kazakhs must fight for survival and are not always the favorites. At the 2024 World Championship, Galym Mambetaliyev's wards will have no trouble reaching the quarter-finals, but staying in the elite will be a problem. Their main rivals will be the Poles, who they will meet in the final, but the Kazakhs will be the favorites.

The German national team has had a productive strategy for the 2024 World Championship, not playing against the top teams but against opponents of a different level capable of winning. This arrangement should help them reach the playoffs without too much trouble, an achievement in such a competitive tournament. On the other hand, Kazakhstan lost both matches against their direct rivals and will now have to fight for survival in the world's elite. The key game for the Kazakhs will come on the tournament's final day, and they are preparing for it. 

Any match involving the German national team in May will be a bright and effective spectacle. Before the start of the World Championship, the Germans had already had two close encounters with the French, losing 5:3 and winning 4:3. In their four matches at the 2024 World Championship, Harold Kreis's wards have scored and conceded 33 goals, an average of 8.25 per game.