Russia gives US bandy master-class

Russia has continued their winning run at the Bandy World Championships taking place in Moscow. Their latest victims – Team USA – went down 19-5 on Wednesday.

The match may have been only 15 seconds old, but the Americans were already trailing.

While the gulf in class between Russia and the USA was already evident, 19-5 was the Americans’ fourth straight loss at the event and the biggest defeat they have suffered so far.

This is the first time the USA have played in the tournament’s elite group since 2005, and they are trying to learn lessons from each game.

“We certainly came thinking we were ready to play, but the Russians showed us we weren’t. They were so very, very good in the first half, and of course we made it look easy for them. Even so, I think we played overall very well in the A Poll. Don’t count tonight. Tonight we leave out,” Chris Middlebrook, US coach, said.

The US is one of few countries where bandy is enjoying ever-increasing popularity. Despite, being only played in Minnesota, the game is drawing more and more attention from media and fans.

Coach Chris Middlebrook knows what his sport needs, to become much more popular in his country.

“We have a strong program. The thing that always limits our growth is that we have only one bandy rink,” he said.

Jasper Felder is very well known person in the world of winter sports. He has taken part in a number of events, like crashed ice, which involves skating down hills, and alpine skiing. However, bandy is his favorite sport.

And he hopes the US will host the World Championships in 2012.

“It would be awesome for the sport, in general, for the US. But you never know, we’ll see what happens,” he said.

Beating Russia is something the US are not even dreaming about at the moment, but they are looking to improve all the time.

And these World Championships are a huge step forward for them.