FÜSSEN – Germany's Andy Kapp made a runback double and a draw to the button in an extra end to defeat the Czech Republic and muscle his way into the tiebreaking round at the 2007 Le Gruyère European Curling Championships.

The hometown heroes battled Prague's Jiri Snitil back and forth in a massive final round-robin match for both teams. Germany (5-4) will now play Sweden's Peja Lindholm (5-4) in one tiebreaker, with the winner set to meet Scotland's David Murdoch (5-4) in the second tiebreaker. That winner is into the playoffs along with Norway (9-0), Denmark and Switzerland (both 6-3).

The Czechs, who made a brave challenge through the week after a rough start, now face a challenge match from the B Division champions, for the right to go to the 2008 World Men's Championships in Grand Forks, USA... and also to remain in the A Division at next year's Euro Championships.

"That was a tough game and we expected it," said German skip Andy Kapp, who earned silver at the 2007 Ford World Men's Championship.

"Now we have qualified Germany for the Worlds, so the next step is to keep going to the podium."

Thanks to the tiebreakers, Norway's Thomas Ulsrud and Denmark's Johnny Fredericksen will have to wait until Friday morning for their "Page" playoff one versus two match, in which the winner heads to the final, and the loser drops to the semi-final.

Both teams made miraculous recoveries from mediocre 2007 seasons. Ulsrud and Frederiksen both went 4-7 at the Worlds, to finish in eighth and eleventh place respectively, while the Danes also had to beat back a challenge match from the Czech Republic just to qualify for the Worlds.

Less than a year later, both sides have brought in extra ammunition to improve their game. For the Norwegians, it's a sports psychologist.

"Ity's just a different way at looking at things," said Ulsrud, who beat Switzerland's Toni Müller 9-3 in the last round-robin game. "We think there's a couple of rungs left on the ladder, instead of always being on top and constatntly trying to defend your position – something like that."

In Denmark's case, the key was the arrival of former veteran skip Ulrik Schmidt as the coach.

"He has so much experience, and he's really helped us with our dynamics," said Danish second Bo Jensen. "We think differently, we approach things differently. It's all in the mind.

"You wouldn't believe the difference."

Switzerland is also waiting to find out which opponent they will meet in the "Page" three versus four playoff game on Friday morning. 

There is no television nor webstreamed coverage of the tiebreaker and challenge matches. Coverage resumes Friday morning on Eurosport, Eurosport.com and CurlTV.com.