BUENOS AIRES – Argentina returns to the 2013 IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship in Dresden, Germany, after winning back-to-back games in a cross-border clash against Brazil.

After Bulgaria had won the European Qualification to return to the IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship Division I, Argentina made use of its home advantage and won the other qualification event that was open for teams from outside of Europe.

Irisarri and Chiaravalloti opened the scoring in the first game but Geraldini and Anarade tied it up for Brazil in the second period. However, after the halftime break the home team reacted with goals from de Achaval, Vadra and Irisarri while Guzman added another goal for Brazil for the final score of 5-3.

The second game the day after ended with a more lopsided score. Although it was just 29-20 shots on goal in Argentina’s favour, the game ended with an 8-3 win for the host nation.

Vadra opened the scoring for Argentina, but Calneina tied it up for Brazil just 17 seconds later. With 33 seconds left in the first period, Chiaravalloti regained the lead for the Argentines.

After a scoreless second period, Guzman tied the score at two with 2:04 left in the third period but Argentina replied with goals from Vigo Laborda and Vadra for the 4-2 score going into the fourth period, which ended with only one Brazilian to four Argentine goals.

For Argentina it will be a return after competing in the 2011 IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship where the Argentines lost all but the last game (6-5 OT victory over New Zealand) and were relegated to the qualification stage.

The inline hockey weekend in Buenos Aires ended with a South American invitational tournament that also included inline teams from non-member nations. This time Brazil had the upper hand, defeating Argentina 3-1 in the semi-finals before beating Colombia 5-3 in the gold medal game.

Argentina’s inline hockey national team defeated a B selection from the country 4-1 for third place while Venezuela claimed fifth place against Uruguay.

Click here for scores.

The teams for the 2013 IIHF InLine Hockey World Championship in Dresden, Germany, 2-8 June 2013 will be seeded as follows:

Top Division
Group A: Canada (1), Slovenia (4), USA (5), Slovakia (8).
Group B: Germany (2), Finland (3), Czech Republic (6), Sweden (7).

Division I
Group C: Great Britain (9), Croatia (12), Australia (13), Bulgaria (16).
Group D: Hungary (10), Austria (11), Japan (14), Argentina (15).

MARTIN MERK