Ice hockey World Cup group stage, Monday, 19.05.2025 at 16:20
The DEB selection is fighting for a place in the quarter-finals and now has to face the world champions. In any case, the betting providers with Apple Pay do not believe that Germany can now seriously challenge the Czechs after their defeat against the USA.
And to be honest, I don’t believe it either. In my Germany vs. Czech Republic prediction, I will give you the exact reasons why the Eagles cannot quite keep up with the Eastern Europeans.
My predictions for Germany’s games in this World Cup have been a complete success so far. I predicted a win against Norway, a defeat against Switzerland and goals against the USA – and I was right in all three cases.
Germany has performed exactly as we expected in this World Cup: confident against the smaller nations, but still lacking something against the heavyweights.
The 5-2 win over Norway was clear-cut, the 1-5 defeat to Switzerland revealed the gap to the European elite, and the 3-6 loss to the USA was ultimately a defeat despite a great fight – mainly because the quality in the top lines couldn’t quite match that of the North Americans.
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Now it’s time for the Czech Republic, the reigning world champions, who are fielding a first and second line that can cause headaches for any opponent.
David Pastrňák scores 40+ goals in Boston year after year, Roman Červenka has been a point machine on international ice for ages, and behind them come Klapka and Flek, other NHL and top European pros who could lead the first line in any other nation.
In short, this Czech team has more depth, more speed, and simply more creative solutions than Germany.
On top of that, the DEB is currently dealing with growing injury concerns. Lukas Reichel is out, Philipp Grubauer injured his glove hand against the US and is most likely only a backup option.
Niederberger is a solid goalie, but he’s not an NHL starter like Grubauer.
In games against top offenses, that makes all the difference: Switzerland needed only a few chances to score five times, while the US, thanks to their quality in one-on-one situations, scored one more goal than their ice-hockey counterparts!
So it would be a huge surprise if the Czech Republic didn’t finish with similar regularity. Especially since their power play is versatile and they have real guns on the blue line in Krejcik and Honek.
On top of that, the Czechs take significantly fewer penalties and defend ruthlessly when shorthanded. Germany’s power play has only been really dangerous against Norway so far.
Without Reichel, they lack a shooting option in the left face-off circle, and the Czech box is tight when the puck reaches the blue line. This threatens turnovers, and the Czechs are extremely dangerous on the shorthanded rush with Pastrňák and Co.
Especially with a potentially tired DEB block, this can quickly lead to a goal.
On the other hand, Germany cannot invest everything in this game. If they lose to the Czech Republic and then to Denmark, they will be out of the quarter-finals.
Denmark is lurking three points behind – which is precisely why the DEB team will not go “all in” against the Czechs, but will have to conserve their strength. The focus is on being able to play a full 60 minutes against the Danes.
National coach Harold Kreis also repeatedly emphasizes that the tournament is not a sprint. In other words, rotations in the lower ranks are realistic, as are shorter ice times for top players. This also plays into the Czech Republic’s hands.
As for the Germany vs. Czech Republic odds: German bookmakers have CZE as the clear favorite at around 1.65, while GER is the underdog at around 4.50. In my opinion, this pretty accurately reflects the actual balance of power.
Those who like to take more risks can bet on “Czech Republic to win with a -1.5 handicap” – odds of around 1.80 are not a bad offer here. “Czech Republic to score over 3.5 goals” at odds of around 2.00 is also attractive.
The world champions’ offensive performance suggests exactly that. After all, Germany’s defense only held reasonably tight against Norway, Kazakhstan, and Hungary – against top attacking lines, they conceded an average of 5.5 goals.
My Germany vs. Czech Republic prediction is clear: The reigning world champions will win in regular time. The quality advantage in the first two lines is too great, and Germany looks too fragile without Reichel and with an injured Grubauer.
For combination bets, you can add the handicap -1.5 or the over option on Czech goals. Anything else would be a sensational upset – and that doesn’t look likely at the moment.
My prediction: Czech Republic to win with a handicap of -1.5
