The Czech Republic, which secured the European Championship qualifying group and ticket, defeated Finland 3–0 in the European Championship qualifying match in Tabor.
Manu Myllyaho,
Hinn Hirvonen
The Finnish women’s national volleyball team lost the last of the European Championship qualifiers to the Czech Republic, the group winner of the previous match. The home team was stronger in Tabor 3–0 (25–19, 25–18, 25–21).
Finland hung well with the Czech Republic, who took silver in the Golden League in the summer, but especially the rest of the set was challenging for the visiting team.
– We stayed very well involved in the Czech game. We haven’t been able to pass that well when we’ve been passing through the qualifiers. However, we have been the best passing team in the group, we did not succeed in that today, Jessica Kosonen your sum.
Finland’s most powerful was again Suvi Kokkonen (13+10). The power player of the home team was Michaela Mlejnkova (17/+10).
The preliminary favorite of the group, the Czech Republic, had already secured its place in the competition before the match. It has lost only one set in the qualifiers so far, away to Montenegro on Sunday.
Two set wins in Tabor would have been enough for Finland to decide the place in the European Championships. Now the race place will be decided in the final battle of the EC qualifiers in Joensuu, when Finland meets Montenegro next Saturday. Also in Joensuu, two heat wins are enough for Finland to qualify for the competition.
Finland opened the qualifiers with a 3–1 win over Montenegro. On Saturday, the teams will fight for the second place in the group, which entitles them to the European Championships.
– The team knows exactly what the spirit of the game is. We will focus on Saturday’s game like the others and try to play as good volleyball as possible, and the result will come from there, head coach Tapio Kangasniemi acknowledged.
amazing atmosphere
Sportovní Hala Mír, which drew about a thousand spectators, had a great atmosphere throughout the match. Finland also got a busload of Finnish fans to support them, when the Finnish fans who traveled Susijengi to Prague for the European basketball championships came to support the women’s flight team.
– It was amazing to play. This is best when there is a lot of noise from your own and the opponent’s supporters. The only thing is that you couldn’t hear what the guy said on the field. It would have been great if we could have squeezed out a win, Kosonen lamented.
National team hacker Maid Korhonen returned to real action in the Iceland match after a long break. A hamstring injury kept Korhonen out of the opening matches of the qualifiers, but on Wednesday he played his 100th international match.
There were some promising performances from Korhosen, especially at the end of the game, but the hacker himself was quite self-critical of the game.
– I’m not in the same shape as I was, and I tried to be very kind to myself. I just tried to keep calm and do my best. It was what it was… The thigh is fine, no problem, Korhonen commented.
“The Czech Republic is better in every area”
Finland also had its moments in the teams’ opening meeting two weeks ago in Seinäjoki, but even then the Czech Republic left with a 3–0 victory.
Sports expert Riikka Lehtonen conceded home team advantage on Wednesday.
– The Czech Republic was better in every area today. In Finland, the attack improved a little in the second set, but on the other hand, the Czech Republic improved its own attack even more, Lehtonen saw.
However, according to Lehtonen, Finland has taken clear development steps in recent years.
– I see a lot of positives, Finland is starting to have scope. Suvi Kokkonen has been a big figure until now, but there are starting to find other players. It’s been great to watch everyone’s individual performance, there have been successful ones throughout the qualification, now that we can all succeed at the same time, Lehtonen concluded.
The final match of the European Championship qualifiers Finland–Montenegro will be played on Saturday, September 10. The broadcast of the match starts on TV2 at 17:15.