– Slovakia made it difficult for us today, but our team has a strength that allows us to turn, Marko Anttila told TV10 after the match.
Expectations and hopes for Olympic gold medalist Finland have been high ahead of the home World Cup.
The interest in hockey is great in Finland, and during the matches in Tampere, the Finnish team has had a large crowd support.
Finland advanced to the quarterfinals as group leader. The only blunder in the minutes during the group game was the penalty loss against Sweden.
On Thursday night In the quarter-finals, the home nation faced Slovakia, who in this year’s World Cup have chosen to bet on a young and promising team.
Finland were big favorites, but it was Slovakia who started the match best.
With just over 15 minutes of the first period played, Slovakia was in a 2-0 lead.
Then the great forward Marko Anttila, who was behind both the World Cup gold in 2019 and the Olympic gold in February this year, stepped forward.
At the end of the period, Anttila reduced to 2-1, and at the beginning of the second period he equalized to 2-2.
In the third period In the fourth minute, Sakari Manninen gave Finland the lead for the first time in the quarter-finals, and with one second left in the match, Saku Maenalanen set the final score at 4-2 in an empty goal cage.
Something that made the cheers rise high inside the arena. It went even higher a moment later when Marko Antilla was named the best player of the match.
– It naturally feels great, says Anttila about the fans’ support
With the victory, the golden dreams are still alive in Finland. On Saturday, the semi-final will be decided, where Finland will meet the USA.