Floorball: Finland was not what it promised – that’s exactly why Finland won the World Cup gold

Malmö

Floorball The World Cup reached an epic climax, when Finland rose from a 0–4 deficit to a 5–4 overtime victory.

Finland’s world championship boils down to two things.

The first of them was great coaching. The head coach Esa Jussila has talked a lot during the competition project about activating the ball game – renewing the way of playing.

In Malmö, however, Jussila and his team took a step back and returned to the virtues of old Finland.

Finland was not what was promised, but that was the decisive key to happiness.

Finland’s ball game was really cynical at times. The Swedish crowd whistled both in the preliminary round and in the final, when Finland killed the game by lobbing the ball for long periods in their own half of the field.

Jussila admittedly failed to prepare the team for the finals, but he deserves full marks for coaching during the game.

In the losing position, Finland didn’t go for the goal in a stupid way, but kept calm to take care of the ball and keep Sweden at bay.

“It was known that if you try to catch the opponent in ten minutes, they will counterattack with even uglier numbers on the board. Patience has been the theme of these games,” Jussila said after the final with a gold medal around her neck.

Even in a desperate situation, Finland didn’t press the panic button, but kept the package together, both game-wise and mentally.

Jussila the tactical choices hit the button, but so did the player choices.

Finland made a tough decision in a 0–4 situation and switched Markus Laakson to the goal. He kept a clean sheet for more than 40 minutes.

”

When I talked to several national team players before the games, the same message was repeated: the atmosphere in the national team is really good.

Previous head coach Petteri Nykky usually trusted his experienced creditors at the time of decision, but Jussila acted differently now.

From more experienced stars Sami Johansson played superiority and a few scattered exchanges. Ville Lastikka not seen on the field at all. When Finland concentrated its play, the captain Nico Salo dropped out of the playing lineup.

Instead of experience, Jussila unprejudicedly trusted hot players. Originally promoted to the whole team from Puski, played eight national matches before the tournament Heikki Iiskola was always dangerous. He started Suomen Kiri and scored the winning goal in overtime with a wonderful individual performance.

“We live in the moment, what is the situation at that moment. The young people responded well to the shout and were able to play at a good level”, explained Jussila about his play.

Jussila successfully mixed the new and the old.

The biggest the story behind the world championship was team spirit.

When I talked to several national team players before the games, the same message was repeated: the atmosphere in the national team is really good.

Of course, it was like that before, but now maybe even better.

“This is a wonderful group. It’s so good to be here and everyone gets to bring out their own personality. It was also visible on the field”, who decided the World Cup final Miska Mäkinen described.

The tight group spirit was best manifested in the final. Even though Finland was at the bottom under the yellow avalanche at the beginning, the faith did not waver. According to Jussila, the atmosphere at the first break was calm.

“The atmosphere was confident. Guys agree on things, how to do things better. It was known that the rise does not require magic tricks”, Jussila said.

The same cannot be said about the Swedish team. When Finland started to tighten the lead of the hosts, Sweden’s playing became more and more cautious.

The fear that shone in the stands was not helped by the other head coach Niklas Nordénin constant nagging. It seemed to catch on with the players as well. Jussila, on the other hand, followed the game like a statue of salt, and the Finns’ focus remained constantly on the game.

The World Cup gold came off with the familiar virtues of the Finnish ball game. Close the group with a tactically successful cooperation floorball.

Finland the surprising World Cup gold on Swedish soil puts international floorball in an interesting situation.

Several players from Sweden’s experienced group will be sidelined. The coaching also changes accompanied by a furious uproar.

The home games were a “garbage fiasco” for Sweden as a whole.

The rough meltdown of the final and the first lost home final in general leave the western neighbor with a pile of smelly laundry to wash.

As an event, the Malmö Games were also a poor performance. Even the dream finale didn’t fill the fans. The audience in the Malmö arena was after all more than 10,000 spectators, but there were thousands of empty seats.

The following The World Championships will be held in Tampere in two years. It is known that no one from the Finnish team is about to quit.

The floorball bat returned to the eastern side of Pohjanlahti – and may stay there even longer.