USA vs Czech Republic Prediction: Czechs beat their rivals in the battle for third place in the group

On 23 May 2022, the USA and the Czech Republic will meet at the Nokia Arena in Tampere for the next Ice Hockey World Championship match.

The USA team gave up a few years ago on the NHL's star players, so now we see several young and promising players and hockey players from the lower ranks of NHL clubs in the national team. Despite that, for the second year in a row, we've seen the Stars and Stripes do well in the group stage of the World Championships. At the 2022 World Cup, they had already played five games and lost only to Finland by 1:4. In the remaining four games, the Americans won without fail, and now they are in fourth place in the standings.

The Czech Republic has failed in all their recent major tournaments, but a change of manager before the start of the 2022 World Cup gave them some hope for a bright future. Under Kari Jalonen, the Czechs had a brilliant start to their two European Tour matches, before pulling out a convincing 5:1 win over Great Britain. Then, they suddenly lost first to Sweden (3:5) and then to Austria (1:2). Fortunately, then David Pastrňák joined the Czech squad, with whom the Czechs beat first Latvia 5:1 and then Norway 4:1, which allowed them to return to third place in the Group B standings.

The USA and the Czech Republic face each other on opposite sides of the standings. Both teams have picked up ten points after five games to be fighting for third place in the group. Kari Jalonen's side seems to be closer to success so far, having strengthened their lineup in the tournament, which allowed them to win convincingly twice in a row. The Stars and Stripes are noticeably inferior to their opponents in terms of their selection of players, so they are not favorites for the upcoming match, and we suggest betting on a Czech national team win at around 1.81.

The Czechs have only scored 28 goals (5.60 goals per game on average) in five games, although they have faced all the underdogs in the tournament and could score more. The Magpies have scored 23 goals (4.60 goals per game on average) over a similar distance. The opponents reached a total under in both recent head-to-head encounters between the opponents, so we suggest betting on a total under 5.5 for 1.83.

Filip Hronek is a defenseman who has spent four seasons in the NHL, playing for Detroit. He has shown decent personal stats, and last season he set a personal best for himself with 38 points (5 goals + 33 assists). He has always been productive for the Czech Republic national team, but at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, he still surprisingly has not scored a single goal. So, you can bet on Filip Hronek To Score for 4.75.

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