The Pearl World Championship dream was watered down in the Slovak downpour.
Tuija Hyyrynen’s goal was not enough for a full points pot for Finland. AOP
It started fabulously well.
Defender of the Helmars Tuija Hyyrynen saw the Slovak goalkeeper Maria Korenciovan adventurous too far from his goal. The Juventus kit reacted and sent the ball in a high arc from about 40 meters desperately backwards over the retreating Korenciova into the net.
Finland took the lead in the sixth minute of the game.
After that, Helmarit carried out the attacks on the Slovakian end like a conveyor belt. However, the poor finish and Korenciova’s stretches kept the hostesses ’World Cup dream alive.
In practice, both Finland and Slovakia applied for a full points pot from Friday’s fight. Accelerated downpour after Hyyrynen’s hit took the best blade of the away team’s game, and Slovakia reached the levels Martina Šurnovskán by hitting.
Hyyrynen gave too much space to the player of Slavia Prague, who used it unscrupulously. The hard pull sank Tinja-Riikka Korpela behind unauthorized access.
Poor finish
In the second period, the head coach Anna Signeul realized the home team was tired at the pace of Finland, and changed Juliette Kempin and Amanda Rantasen to the field as the last quarter. The first striker Linda Sällström followed the events from the bench injured.
When neither produced a winning goal, Signeul still tried to surprise Slovakia Jenny-Julia Danielsson and Olga Ahtisen through. This time, however, there was no luck and Finland froze in a bitter points division.
The draw didn’t completely kill Helmar’s delicate World Cup dreams. Finland is now in a tie with Ireland, having played the match more. The teams are likely to settle for second place in their block match on the first day of September.
If no surprises are seen in the meantime, Finland will start the match with a three-point lead and a clearly weaker goal difference. In practice, that would mean a forced win from a away game with a difference of at least two goals.
If Finland succeeds, it would still be able to fight for three additional places in the final tournament of Australia and New Zealand.
– Quite a frustrating game, a lot of goal points were created but could not be entered. It’s really annoying, Hyyrynen said in an interview with Yle.
– We immediately got the game running, and more goals should have been scored, he continued.
However, Hyyrynen did not want to bury the World Cup dream yet.
– We are fighting for a place to work and we have to work hard for it.