| Hunt for playoffs heats up Ford World Men's Championship |
|
|
|
The chase to the final four is in full roar at the 2007 Ford World Men's Curling Championship. Thursday marks the end of round-robin play, with the top four of the 12-team field qualifying for the playoffs, which begin Friday. Switzerland's Ralph Stöckli lost a critical match 10-6 to France's Thomas Dufour, which pulled the Swiss out of second place and into a pack of teams running third. The killer end was the ninth, when the French grabbed five points. "That was hell," said Stöckli. "We had so many bad misses. "We're in the crowd (of teams) now, I think." Dufour was originally planning to blank the ninth end and hold last-rock advantage coming home, but found himself in a maze of rocks. "(The blank) is what we wanted, but what happened?" said Dufour. "We had a very good setup, I thought the three was right there, but we got five." France and Switzerland both meet Finland's Markku Uusipaavalniemi to conclude the round-robin. Germany's Andy Kapp was a 7-5 winner over Norway which also put his team to 6-4. "It was a very important game," said Kapp. "It was the win to reach our goal, of 6-5. Now we have one more to lose and we still reach out goal, and if we win we are in the playoffs." Germany faces Denmark in the final Thursday night draw. Two sheets over, Todd Birr of the United States held off Korea's Je Ho Park 7-5 to climb into sole possession of second place. The Americans are the only team to solve Canada's Glenn Howard. Birr defeated the Canadians 7-6 on Wednesday night. |
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
WCF Member Login
WCF RANKED TOP 5 (M) | ||
| # | Team | Points |
| 1 | Canada | 1038 |
| 2 | Scotland | 724 |
| 3 | Norway | 639 |
| 4 | U.S.A. | 636 |
| 5 | Germany | 542 |
WCF RANKED TOP 5 (W) | ||
| # | Team | Points |
| 1 | Canada | 928 |
| 2 | Sweden | 795 |
| 3 | Switzerland | 672 |
| 4 | U.S.A. | 615 |
| 5 | Denmark | 521 |
|
