“The coach is responsible for the defeat of the Swedes”
– How did the Canadians bounce back from 0-3 in the quarter-finals and eliminate the Swedes from the playoffs?
– When such upheavals occur in relegation matches, the coach is primarily responsible. If you lead after the second period 3-0, but at the end you abandon the game, there is no excuse. The answer is that Yukhan Garpenlev is a weak specialist. He was a great player, but he was not such a strong coach.
– Did Tre Krunur make a tactical error when he started to play with the Canadians in a throwback, taking the lead?
– Absolutely. The Swedes completely gave the initiative to the Canadians, and they were punished for it. But then again, questions immediately arise for the coach – why did this happen.
– Why did the Swiss, after having had a good group stage, lose by one wicket against the Americans in the first round of the playoffs? What broke their game?
– Here, we must pay tribute to the psychology of all North American players. Canadians and Americans have incredible self-confidence. They enter the playoffs from the fourth place in the group, they play against the favorite, but they don’t feel any worries about it. The American team was not shy about the Swiss. They came out and started beating, without a shadow of a doubt.
– And the Swiss, on the contrary, were confused?
– Maybe this team was just negatively affected by the first place in the group. Psychologically, the Swiss are not yet ready for the role of big favorites at the World Championships, who must certainly win.
“Anttila is a unique player, he has a rare gift”
– What prevented the Slovaks from winning the quarter-finals with the Finns? And could they, in principle, defeat the tournament hosts?
– At the start, it was clear that the Finns are stronger. It seems to me that the funny puck of the Finns, which they scored at the end of the first period, became the key to this match, it was a turning point. Moreover, before that, the Slovaks scored not to say it was random, but optional goals from non-obvious positions.
The Slovaks, it seemed to me, did not believe at all that they could beat the Finns. Therefore, at the start of the match, they were relaxed, they practiced a lot. And when they took the lead in the score, and victory became possible, it on the contrary hindered them a little. They were afraid of themselves.
– The decisive goals for the Suomi national team were scored by 37-year-old Marco Anttila. What is the phenomenon of this attacker, who did not stand out in the KHL, but who often wins in the national team?
– This is a very important quality for a player – the ability to transform in decisive matches. A rather rare gift. Because the majority of hockey players, on the contrary, begin to shake at crucial moments and, as a rule, they cannot show their best qualities. But Antilla is the opposite. In this regard, Marco is a unique athlete. And here you don’t even need to go over his stats in the KHL. Marco hasn’t scored a single goal at the World Championships until yesterday’s game. And in the quarter-finals he scored twice – exactly when it was needed, when the team was losing. He had a similar story in 2019, when the Finns became champions.
“In the group, the American team looked helpless. The Finns destroyed it”
– Canadians and Finns – favorites in their semi-final pairs? Or can we expect surprises from the Czechs and the American team?
– I agree that the teams of Canada and Finland are the favorites in the semi-finals, but, as we know, the favorites do not always win.
Are the Americans really capable of knocking out two group winners in a row?
– A game can be won against anyone. Here we recalled the Finnish quarter-finals. If the Slovaks hadn’t missed a random puck late in the first period, the whole game could have gone differently. You see, they would endure, they managed a counterattack and said “goodbye” to the Finns. Another thing is that when the American and Finnish teams met in the group, the Americans looked deplorable, even helpless. The Finns simply destroyed them. But again, Suomi’s team can relax slightly in the semis and lead the Americans.
– Can the Czechs with a Finnish coach oppose something to the Canadians?
– At the start of the tournament, the Canadians made a very strong impression on me. I also thought they now had a much more qualified roster than a year ago when they became champions. Everything therefore depends on the ability of the Czechs to impose their patient game on the opponent with the challenge of counter-attacks. They certainly have a chance. But the Canadians are the favorites of this pair.
– How do you find the curious symbiosis of the Finnish coach with the Czech players?
– Well, since Kari Jalonen led the team to the semi-finals, which is to say they will be fighting for the medals, it means that he is at least doing well.
Source : MatchTV
I am Sandra Jackson, a journalist and content creator with extensive experience in the news industry. I have been working in the news media for over five years. During this time, I have worked as an author and editor at various outlets producing high-quality content that attracts readers from different demographics.
