Austria’s head coach Roger Bader did not appreciate Finland’s third goal. According to him, an Iihf official admitted that Ahti Oksanen’s goal was preceded by offside.
TAMPERE. The most special moment of the game between Finland and Austria was seen in 58:08, when Ahti Oksanen had sunk a handsome wrist shot into the opponent’s net. There was quite a buzz in the Austrian changing room and after a while the man in the suit half climbed onto the Plexiglas to shout something.
The first impression was that a security guard was needed for some reason.
The truth was different, Austria’s video assistant didn’t get proper contact with the substitution fence to tell that Finland’s goal should be challenged due to offside. In the end, this happened with a little delay, when the video supervisor came from upstairs behind the changing room to guide the head coach Roger Bader.
However, Austria’s challenge did not yield results. Oksanen’s 3–1 goal remained valid and Austria got a two-minute suspension. The game ended with these numbers.
Bader was upset after the match.
– It was definitely offside. The referee admitted to us that the situation was offside. It was bad judgment. Without it, we could have taken the goalkeeper out and perhaps reached overtime, Bader snapped.
The Swiss pilot was satisfied with his own game, with which Austria forced Finland out of the best goal-scoring sector.
– We defended excellently. Sure, Finland had more shots and chances to score than us, but we stopped them in the middle area and forced them to play through the end. This was our plan.
Austrian captain Manuel Ganahl was on the same lines.
– This was clearly our best match here. However, we played against the defending world champions. We will continue to fight for a place in the A series, Ganahl stated.