The Finnish World Cup team has a two-meter physical wonder – “I like to humiliate others”

Oskari Fälden not in a hurry. The 24-year-old goalkeeper is as calm between the posts as he is now sitting on the sofa in the hotel lobby.

That’s where the biggest strength of Finland’s number one defender lies, reflects the goalkeeper coach of the national floorball team Jarno Miracle.

– Eero Kosonen was a similar type, a gentle bear, Ihme compares Fälden to the champion fighter of the 2010s.

– Fälden can be trusted. It’s easy to put him in the finish line when top performances come night after night with a factory guarantee.

Freezing smoothness. It is the second trump card of Fälden, who is playing his first men’s championships as the first goalkeeper.

It sounds like an obvious requirement, but fighting is a brutal sport. Especially in floorball, situations come up at breakneck speed, sometimes completely by chance. The ball leaves the stage hard, and the goalkeeper’s equipment is not as sturdy as in hockey.

Less but effectively

Fälden goes back in time to its first years in the league. He made his men’s debut in the 2016–17 season.

The young and promising keeper from Turku entered the TPS league at a young age. The role of a student was on offer, when between the posts someone very much like him blocked Try Luukkonen.

– I came to the league as a pretty unfinished goalkeeper. There was also knee surgery. It took a couple of three seasons to develop so well that you can play well in the league, Fälden recalls.

– When Luukkonen finished, he moved directly to our veskari coach. I got a lot of tips from him on what to do and what not to do.

Fälden, who is almost two meters tall, has great frames. They help, but they still don’t make anyone a top goalie.

– Today’s goalkeeper must be able to move with four or five different techniques in every direction. Perhaps the biggest realization over the years has been how to react to different situations and their danger.

A quick lateral movement from one post to another with the equipment on, so that the tackling position remains balanced, requires complete control of one’s own body in particular. Immediately after, another shot can come from another corner, where you should be able to move immediately after the save.

Modernity can also be seen in how much better the veskars know how to read the game.

– The less you can do efficiently, the better, Fälden sums up.

You don’t have to fight every shot threat from the wing. At the top level, goalkeepers and field players agree exactly which shot is the keeper and which angle the field player tries to cover.

Situations must be recognized constantly. Still, the game is complex, and not everything can be predicted. Then the goalkeeper must be able to keep the odds on his side.

A brave counterattack increases the probability of blocking a direct shot, but the distance to the new blocking line increases if, instead of a shot, a pass is made to another player.

Physics above all

– A goalkeeper must want to be the best athlete in his team, says world champion goalkeeper, current coach Ihme.

Fälden admits that he is not the top name in, for example, the national team’s physical tests, but certainly not even in the lower middle caste.

– I’m quite good at everything. If I participate in speed tests, I’m sure I won’t be last. I like to join them and humiliate the guys a bit, he grins.

– Field players and goalkeepers do not all have the same physical requirements. I wouldn’t focus on how quickly the spurt comes off in a five-meter distance. But it doesn’t hurt if it goes quickly, Ihme adds.

Both Fälden and the other goalkeeper Markus Laakso do well with field players in national team tests. Last summer, Fälden excelled in the so-called beep test, officially called the endurance shuttle run.

Wake-up

Ihme recently criticized the Finnish goalkeeper coaching In the floor band league’s podcast. It was a stimulating speech, for which Ihme has received feedback from his colleagues.

– It’s a great thing how much goalkeeper coaching expertise has come to Finland.

– However, we have been too narrow-minded in certain areas. We have wanted to develop game intelligence, but it has been absent from learning physics and skill. I would hope that today’s goalkeepers were already 15-20-year-old giants with such a cool physique that you can start to build your own style of play and defense on top of that, Ihme reflects.

In keeping with the prevailing trend, even junior goalkeepers tend to passively stay close to the goal line.

– A scumbag muttering in his own box is not something to do at an international level. I support proactivity in the junior phase. Let’s do things using the body and dare to come forward and catch the balls.

Ihme sees that, for example, the styles of the Swedish guards differ significantly from the Finns.

– In Finland, we are used to resisting bets with a limb. The Swedes, on the other hand, move their whole body in the path of the shot, like hockey goaltenders today. In Finland, our goalkeepers have often had a very low blocking position. The other hand is used to help with movement. Here at the World Cup, many top players play quite upright and only use their legs to move.

At the World Championships in Malmö, Fälden was the best of the match when Sweden fell in the preliminary round. Laakso also made a splash in the Slovakia game.

Fälden will probably be the clear number one choice for the goal when the medal games arrive, although coach Ihme will of course not reveal the order of play yet.