The Philippine men’s national floorball team endured a tough start to their World Games campaign, falling to Latvia, 12-2, on Thursday at the Xindu Xiangcheng Sports Centre.
The result echoed their previous encounter during last year’s World Championships, where the Philippines suffered a 14-3 loss.
This time, however, the Nationals showed noticeable improvement in their defensive play against the world No. 4 team.
“We knew it was going to be really tough. I’m still very proud of the team and that they fought the whole time. We scored two great goals and with a little more luck we could have scored a few more goals. We did our best against one of the best teams in the world,” said long-time head coach Noel Alm Johansson.
In the opening period, the Philippines managed to contain Latvia’s attack, limiting them to just two goals by Daniels Anis and Krisjanis Tiltins.
Employing a counterattacking strategy, the Nationals found an equalizer through Simon Sicat Laraño, who scored with just under a minute left in the first period.
However, Latvia regained control and unleashed a barrage of seven unanswered goals across the second and third periods.
Anis completed a four-goal performance, while Gustavs Griezitis scored back-to-back goals in the second frame. Captain Peteris Treksen also added to the scoring, pushing Latvia’s lead to 9-1.
The Philippines had a chance to stop the bleeding after drawing a penalty, when Griezitis was called for a foul.
Melvin Mendoza, the team’s leading scorer, made the most of the opportunity by converting a pass from Sicat Laraño into a goal from the right flank.
Latvia closed out the match with three more goals, capped by Ralfs Mattis Balodis, securing their first win of the tournament after a narrow 4-3 loss to Switzerland the day before.
The Philippines will return to action against defending champion Sweden on Saturday at 11:45 a.m.
