Czech Republic vs Switzerland: The Czechs will go to the Olympics quarter-finals

The Czechs suffered a group-stage defeat to Switzerland in the Beijing Olympics. Will Patrick Fischer's side get their revenge in the next game? We predict that the Czech Republic will be closer to success again!

The Czech national team is a team that hasn't played in big international tournaments in a long time. Filip Pesan's charges got off to a poor start in Beijing, losing their first game to a modest Danish side 1-2. This defeat did not break the Czechs, who gradually began to rectify the situation. Against Switzerland, they improved from period to period, although they won only in a shootout with a 2-1 score. The best meeting of the tournament for the Lions came against Russia, when they put on a real goal battle and won in overtime - 6:5, thanks to a power-play goal by Libor Šulák.

The Swiss came to the Beijing Olympics as a dark horse, capable of repeating the feat achieved by the Germans at the previous PyeongChang Games by reaching the medals. Alas, they have only suffered three successive group-stage defeats against Germany. In their games against Russia and the Czech Republic, Patrick Fischer's charges played pretty well and had chances to succeed, but eventually lost 0-1 and 1-2. The Czechs lost only in a shootout. The Swiss were disappointed with the match against Denmark in which they looked surprisingly weak and lost 3-5, finishing in the last place in group B.

Over the last decade and a half, the teams have played 13 head-to-head encounters in major international tournaments. The margin of victory has been minimal - the Czechs have won seven games, while the Swiss have been stronger in six. The goal difference, 36-34, also favored the home team for the game. The last time the two teams faced off was at the 2022 Olympics, when the Czech Republic was victorious, 2-1.

The Czech Republic and Switzerland have already played each other at the Olympics in Beijing in the group stage when Filip Pesan's charges won on a shootout with a 2-1 win. Now they are the favorites to face each other, as they improve from game to game in the tournament, while the Swiss are getting worse with every game. The statistics for their head-to-head encounters also favor the Czechs, as they have been stronger five times in the last six fixtures. As a result, we are forced to bet on the Czech Republic's victory for 1.98.

In the group stage of the Olympics, the Czech and Swiss teams played out a monstrously dismal defensive game in which there were about as many scoring chances as there were goals - one on each side. Filip Pesan and Patrick Fischer showed that they had established great defensive formations in the opening two rounds, even if it came at the expense of attack. It's not worth paying attention to the teams' last matches, where they were scoring offensively, because they no longer had any tournament goals by that point. Now they will close again, and the best option seems to be Total Under 4.5 pucks for 2.30.

David Krejci is the main star of the Czech national team at the Olympics in Beijing. Last season he played outstandingly in the NHL for Boston, where he scored 53 points (10 goals + 43 assists) in 62 games. Yes, he moved to the Czech Republic in the offseason, where he now plays for Olomouc, but he has no intention of letting up either, being one of the league's top scorers. The experienced forward scored 36 points (17 goals + 19 assists) in 42 games. He also averages one assist per game in the Chinese capital, so it's worth taking a closer look at David Krejci's Total Over 0.5-point for 1.72.