For the first time in 18 years, Finland was left out of the floorball World Cup finals. The team was able to play its best game in the semi-final against Sweden, but the tournament as a whole left a dull picture, writes ‘s expert Perttu Kytöhonka.
The Floorball World Cup ended with Finland winning the bronze medal match against Switzerland. ‘s expert Perttu Kytöhonka summarizes the Finnish tournament in his analysis.
1. Sweden and the Czech Republic set a new challenge
Eleven months ago, at the World Cup in Helsinki, Finland played a strong first group and went to the World Cup final as a big favorite against Sweden. Sweden, which even played somewhat un-Swedish underdog salibandy, managed to grab the victory right in front of Finland’s nose, partly with Finland’s own weapons.
Now in Switzerland, Sweden was the best team from the beginning to the end of the tournament. The team’s construction and roles were clear from the beginning of the tournament, the game process had now moved forward, and in addition, the extra confusion that surfaced from time to time in Helsinki shone by its absence.
Finland succeeded with a good game plan, high-quality implementation of the plan and Lassi Toriseva with top-class goalkeeper play to make the semi-final a real thriller, but considering the whole, the better team advanced to the World Cup final.
In the World Cup final, Sweden faced the Czech Republic, which advanced to the World Cup final for the first time since 2004. The Czech team, clearly the youngest of the top countries, had also taken significant steps in terms of play since last year’s World Championships in Helsinki. In the final, the team was still the opponent, but the team’s age structure and fast game development promise good things for the Czech Republic in the future – and an additional challenge for Finland.
Right now, it seems that Sweden and the Czech Republic, who played in the World Cup final, have taken both the team building process and the gameplay process to a new level. Finland’s previous recipe for success, in which the game development of the team between and during tournaments is quite extensive, seems no longer sufficient.
2. Difficulty bringing in new responsibility bearers
Finland’s world championship in 2018 came with a team whose core had played together for a long time and several of whose players played the best floorball of their careers.
When I observed Finland from the coaching team of its main opponent Sweden 2019–2020, Finland looked like a “formless” team in the best of ways, which flexes, bends, adapts and always finds ways to win. This has been a big credit Petteri Nykyn with a management approach led by the coaching team, where the five players are given strong autonomy over their own play.
Finland’s ability to adapt and tolerate surprising situations was, for example, in Prague 2018 compared to Sweden in a class of its own. I called Finland’s playing and the team “anti-fragile” – it looked like a team that only benefits from various shocks and challenges.
In the end, however, it has not been antifragile. The thinness of the game development process was not a problem as long as the core of the team remained the same and the health of the players was good. Now that the Finnish team, especially in terms of defenders, has entered and is entering a turning point, the challenges have become apparent.
Symptoms have been seen before. It has been very difficult for players who have performed excellently in the domestic F-League to succeed in the ranks of the national team. When a new player has jumped on the journey of the national team, he has had to adapt to the already mentioned “formlessness” quite self-directedly.
Support has remained low. The player is thrown into the deep end of the pool and it is seen if he stays afloat. Success is then very difficult.
At the same time, one thing must be made clear – the level of Finnish players would be sufficient. For example, in this World Cup tournament, mostly those who used up the bench and seemed incompetent Aaro Astala and Joona Rantala both would have been strong candidates for Sweden’s World Cup group.
Floorball is a team game and that team game is implemented on the field by the fives. It is very difficult even for an individual top individual to succeed and be able to perform at their best if they remain detached pieces of the whole.
3. Change in order and incoming
The successful time of the coaching team led by Petteri Nyky at the helm of the Finnish national team ends with these games. There have been results, but now the curve has been falling. by Niklas Norden The Swedish national team, led by
The defense, which was the cornerstone of the Finnish national team, is also getting new, when after the World Championships in Helsinki, the Tatu Väänänen and Juha Kivilehton In addition also Janne Lamminen, Mikko Leikkanen and Lauri Stenfors have more or less directly said that these games will be their last. Finland’s new head coach, Esa Jussilan the tough task remains to find new bearers of responsibility for the next World Cup, which is two years away.
Now those who were involved Otto Lehkosuo, Eemeli Akola, Konsta Tykkyläinen, Jesperi Lindfors mixed Jere Niemelä are certainly going to be strong in the future, but replacing the above-mentioned internationally experienced factors will not happen easily.
Changes are thus inevitable, but there are also opportunities hidden in them. With the players sidelined and the result curve going down, it can be said that Jussila’s coaching team has both pressure and a strong mandate to reform the operation of the men’s national team.
It can be expected that more will be invested in the team’s game development and player trials than before. The Czech Republic already showed in these games that even though not many of the young team would probably have been selected for example in this Finnish World Cup group, with strong team play even the most inexperienced player can reach their best and beyond.