The group winner will already be decided in the top match?

Top game for the lead in the table! Whoever leaves the ice as the winner in the top game on Sunday at 20:20 in Prague will secure their place in the sun in Group A. As expected, Switzerland are the underdogs against Canada according to the betting odds. However, as the Swiss national team is in excellent playing form, there are higher odds available for bets on the Canadian gold aspirants than would have been expected before the start of the tournament.

The provider with the reliable live chat outperforms the competition for favorites betting on the three-way market and offers odds of 1.84 ahead of the match between Switzerland and Canada! Both teams have yet to lose in the group stage of the 2024 Ice Hockey World Championship and are through to the quarter-finals. Who will suffer their first defeat of the tournament?

There are also interesting betting opportunities for the top match in the O2 Arena outside of the 1X2 market. Betting provider Bwin is paying out double the stake for successful betting tips on a high-scoring game with over 5.5 goals. On top of that, the experienced provider shines with an attractive bonus campaign that can be used for betting on the Ice Hockey World Cup 2024:

Switzerland – statistics & current form

Although Switzerland are the underdogs in the upcoming match, their high position in the group table comes as no real surprise. In addition to world champions Canada, coach Patrick Fischer’s team has other tough rivals for the top spots in Finland and hosts the Czech Republic, who were even considered to be a little stronger than the Swiss before the World Cup. On a playing level, however, it was clear that Switzerland had a lot to offer.

However, one criticism often voiced before the tournament was that the Swiss line-up relied excessively on individual big names. But what silences critics better than convincing results? That’s right: goals upon goals. The Nati’s match plan is obviously working. The NHL stars in the squad can rely on excellent interplay with the rest of the team and, together with the other players, form a smooth collective

Switzerland rewarded themselves with eight goals in the latest match

The most recent match against Denmark went particularly smoothly. The Swiss shone with a top-class shutout and dismantled the Danes with an 8-0 victory. The first half of the goals were scored by Nico Hischier, Roman Josi and Kevin Fiala, the latter even scoring twice. In line with the dominant performance of the national team, Josi and Hischier continued their dazzling run at the World Championship and are now in the top two places on this year’s World Championship top scorers list.

Now, with world champions Canada as their opponents, they face a group game against a completely different caliber. The Swiss national team has impressed throughout the tournament so far and has not lost a single game. However, the Canadian defending champions, whose squad is full of NHL stars, are considered the biggest favorites for the gold medal.

On a cream day, Switzerland could certainly surprise against Canada despite the odds signaling a different outcome. However, it is more likely that the assessment of the betting providers with a German license will be confirmed and Canada will be the favorites to win the group

Canada – Statistics & current form

Unlike Switzerland, Canada has a close duel behind it that was hard to beat in terms of tension. Finland set out to consolidate their place in the quarter-finals in a direct duel against the top favorites at the Ice Hockey World Championship. They almost succeeded – it took more than 51 minutes for the Canadian world champions to take the lead for the first time against the robust Finns.

However, the reason for the late lead was not that the Finnish team stubbornly stonewalled and did not allow the Canadians to celebrate their goal. Instead, Finland got off to a dream start to the game, opening up a 0:2 lead within the first four minutes of play.

The game then went back and forth: first Canada equalized at 2:2, then Finland scored again to make it 2:3 – only to lose the advantage again with a Canadian goal to make it 3:3. After the Canadians scored 4:3, the game remained tense until the end. In the end, Dawson Mercer put the lid on the game with a 5:3 penalty netter shortly before the end. Will Switzerland manage to give Canada a similarly tough fight, contrary to the bookies’ predictions?

Will Canada attack again?

On paper, Canada are in an expectedly dominant position as reigning world champions with five wins from five group games. However, it should not be forgotten that the Canadian team also encountered a number of difficulties before the clash with Finland. The World Championship opener against Great Britain, one of the clear underdogs at the World Championship, was much bumpier than head coach André Tourigny would have liked, despite a 2:4 victory.

The shaky victory against Austria in the third preliminary round match provided a shock moment of a special kind for the defending champions: After Canada had already taken a 6-1 lead at the start of the final period, the Austrians went into a frenzy and scored five goals against the stunned favorites. The fact that John Tavares took the opportunity to score Canada’s redemption goal just 15 seconds into the surprising overtime period was a fortunate turn of events for the world champions. Incidentally, Switzerland also only managed a narrow 5:6 victory against Austria thanks to a last-minute goal.

Apart from the sometimes lost sovereignty, the group stage so far has made one thing clear above all: the merciless offense is firmly anchored in the DNA of the Canadian national team. Not once did the final buzzer sound without Canada scoring at least four times in the opposition’s box. Can we look forward to another offensive treat? The bookmakers are skeptical and their odds ahead of the match between Switzerland and Canada imply a higher probability of a below-average number of goals being scored

Switzerland – Canada head-to-head / H2H result

The Nati and the defending champions are no strangers to each other. In the 57 meetings between the two nations, the Swiss have only won twelve times. Three times there was no winner; the remaining 42 games were won by the current world champions. Even though the ice hockey history of Switzerland and Canada is long, our prediction does not benefit significantly from the data of the H2H record.

Only the two matches from last year and the year before last are in the recent past. All previous duels are at least five years old. Of limited relevance, but still interesting, is the fact that Switzerland won the last two encounters 3:6 in 2022 and 2:3 in 2023. Will the Fischer squad extend their winning streak on Sunday evening?

Switzerland – Canada tip

In the hottest match of the World Cup Sunday, two nations without bankruptcies face each other and duel for the place in the sun in Group A. Switzerland, in particular, have been boosted by their recent 8-0 powerhouse performance. Meanwhile, Canada have unsettled the bookmakers with many a shaky win despite their own winning streak and the same points haul. Are the bookmakers’ concerns justified?

On a playing level, the balance of power is clear despite the high standard of the Swiss. The Canadian line-up has an almost overpowering squad at its disposal, which can defeat any opponent without major problems outside of the most select field of favorites at the World Cup.

However, we prefer to bet on over 5.5 goals in the match between Switzerland and Canada and expect another hard-fought game for the top of the group

The occasional slip-ups of the defending champions in the group phase also result in increased odds for a regular triumph of the Canadians as a betting alternative with a slightly lower risk. Nevertheless, the Nati should not be underestimated