Naisleijon has not had a competitive back at the World Cup, writes Urheilu’s editor Simo Arkko.
Simo Arkkourheilhu reporter
This was not supposed to be possible, was it?
Already in the Switzerland match of the first group, it became clear what the Women’s Lions should focus on in the quarterfinals. Then, in the third set, Switzerland often got through and counterattacked.
This time, the Lionesses have to get the counterattacks under control.
Finland failed miserably in this already in the first exchanges of the quarter round. After about a minute of play Ivana Wey ran away from the Finnish defense, challenged Jenni Hiirikoski and passed Sanni Ahola with his knuckle shot.
Head coach of the Women’s Lions Juuso Toivola stated before the match in an interview with that he had gone through the sleepovers of the Switzerland game. However, the goal and other counterattack situations showed that it was not very successful.
Switzerland’s quick finish is just one example of why the Lionesses are currently an under-coached team.
Although Finland has had the opportunity to refine its playing style throughout the season in the EHT tournaments, the team has not had a game-like backbone in the World Cup.
When you look at the structure of Finland, it is really difficult to recognize what Finland is aiming for. How does Finland move or play, for example, in the defensive area?
The problem is also that the coaching fails to react to changing situations during the match. Finland is on the weak side of the game.
Juuso Toivola has been able to partially hide behind the fact that Finland seemingly stayed in the game against the United States thanks to his extreme efficiency.
However, Naisleijonat was badly behind in terms of play, and the team was not given the means to survive the match. It must also be remembered that the North Americans have little input in the initial group, when all the teams in the A group reach the quarterfinals.
The star striker already told something about the situation of the Women’s Lions Petra Nieminen eruption after the first match of the tournament at Discovery.
– You shouldn’t lie here. Both the coaching and the players must get rats into that activity. We can’t come to the World Cup and draw the first game like that. I think we need to improve quite a lot so that we can challenge something here, Nieminen added.
Nieminen criticizes coaching fairly directly. It was also an interesting choice that he mentioned coaching before the players. The question came to mind, did the coaching lose the confidence of its players already at the beginning of the tournament.
Nieminen was also the player who practically single-handedly lifted the Women’s Lions out of the swamp against Switzerland. Finland had trouble getting into the goal posts, but it was Nieminen who led his team to the quarterfinals.
Nieminen brought Finland level in the opening set with his individual performance. In the second set, his strong foreplay on the other hand gave Naislijonat a 2–1 lead, the goal was completed by Susanna Tapani.
Finally, Finland claimed a place in the semi-finals with a score of 3–1. In the third period, the defender was responsible for Finland’s goal Nelli Laitinenwhose shot exceptionally bounced off the defender’s stick and into the net.
With her performances, Nieminen guaranteed that Naisleijon still has a chance to win a medal in this tournament.
Urheilu follows the World Cup in more detail in this article. Finland will play in the semi-finals on Saturday, the opponent and the exact date will be determined later.