The final of the Silver League between Finland and Romania ended in a defeat for Finland. According to Sports expert Mikko Esko, Finland has room for improvement in situations where the match is progressing evenly.
The Finnish men’s volleyball team lost the Silver League final to Romania 2–3 (25–17, 21–25, 25–20, 23–25, 13–15).
In the match leading to the fifth round, Finland led several times, but the team was not able to turn the necessary decision balls for themselves.
Sports Expert Mikko Esko said the loss was a big disappointment. A victory in next season’s Golden League would have been secured.
– The boys played great. The match was a bit like coming to us 3-1. The fourth round was dominated for a long time and led by three points until the middle of the round, Esko commented on the final.
– There were places to take breakballs and solve the game, but couldn’t.
In the match, the Romanian team caused a headache for Finland Rares Balean under. Romania’s strong fighting game made the Finnish attack more difficult as the game progressed.
– Romania, as a slightly more experienced team, was tougher at the time of the decision. The game is, of course, raw and honest, but yes, Romania deserved to win.
The most effective Finnish players were Aaro Nikula With 16 attack points and Sakari Mäkinen With 19 attack points.
– Aaro Nikula earned the number one chipper as the tournament progressed. Fedor Ivanov also earned the position of first passer. They have a tough fight Akseli Lankisen with, however, because they are pretty much on the same level but with slightly different passars, Esko evaluates the team.
Tight situations turned to Romania
Finland started the match strongly, and Romania did not have any divisions in the first set against Finland’s close team game.
Finland’s good grip continued at the beginning of the second round, when the team led the opponent 9–4. Through strong passes, Romania got their game running and made it to the back of the 10-10 levels.
Finland’s overtime didn’t help and Romania took the lead for the first time. The second installment continued on a steady note, but Romania won it for itself.
The third installment continued as familiarly flat. Finland made good use of the situations it received and escaped in the 5–5 situation. Romania caught up with the story again at the end of the batch, but didn’t get close enough.
At the end of the third round, player substitutions, among other things, helped Finland maintain its grip on the winnings.
Finland led the fourth round almost all the time. The batch progressed steadily from point to point and the errors were minor. At the end of the fourth installment, however, Romania escaped from Finland.
In the fifth installment, Romania made a sure result. Finland was still in the final stages of the fifth installment, when it narrowed its loss situation from 10 to 14 to 13-14. However, Kiri was not enough.
Next matches in the European Championship qualifiers
The games of the Finnish men’s volleyball team will continue in August in the form of European Championship qualifiers. Finland will face Austria and Latvia in the qualifiers.
The first qualifying match Latvia-Finland will be played on August 6 in Latvia. According to Esko, youth and evenness are the absolute strengths of the national team in terms of qualifiers.
– The basic gameplay is at a pretty good level and when the game goes by, you play quite a model volleyball. What was revealed in this final as Finland’s weakness and what I thought about before the tournament is the hardness at the moment when the game has to be solved.
– When playing items with many points, you play really well, but there is development when you play evenly on the surface, Esko sums up.