If all goes well, the Lions will play in the finals of the World Cup on Sunday at 8.20pm.
Finland has a tough place ahead on Thursday night when the team faces the semi-finals of the Slovak World Cup.
Multiple value medalists Annina Rajahuhta and Noora Räty know how to prepare for the big game.
– Players have those basic routines, they are built for themselves. This can be a start-up net, a breathing exercise or a pre-match exercise. Once you know they work, you shouldn’t change anything.
– Trust and do the same routines, even though it’s an exciting place, says double Olympic medalist Rajahuhta.
– The most important preparation is: do not change anything. If you change things, it’s easy to overdo it and the emotional state gets too high, Räty sighs.
Easy Slovakia?
Joel Armia scored a beautiful goal for the Czech net on Tuesday. More are needed if the Lions want to play in the World Cup final on Sunday.
In the final match of the first series, the lions beat the Czech Republic in the number 3–0 on Tuesday. With the end result, Finland always avoided a bad encounter with Canada.
– However, one cutting game is never an easy place. He remembers it from his own career. However, the stencil of the lions is so clear. So many different aspects of the game work. If the team is able to hold on to it, Finland will leave the game as a clear pre-favorite, Rajahuhta ponders.
Räty misses a certain thing in the game of Lions when the game has a place in medal games.
– I would like more aggression in front of that goal. If you think about the Slovak goalkeeper, he is pretty good at direct bets. But from there, ribbons fall from the mattresses so that Finland can get to them for the first time.
– More courage, dirty goals, dirty situations. In playoffs, goals are rarely those highlight goals, the 32-year-old goalkeeper says.
– Greed, the women say loudly.
Veskarietu in Finland
Goalkeeping is always key in big games. Finland’s goal is likely to play Jussi Olkinuora. Slovakia is likely to trust the AHL guard Adam Huskaan.
– Finland has a clear advantage here. Admittedly, Adam Huska has come under tougher pressure. He has been challenged more in games.
– Huska is quite different from Olkinuora. He is a basic Slovak and plays in a really wide position. Likes to slide a lot and trusts his own athleticism. He has noticed that he is playing really daring with the racket, Räty says.
What kind of routines did Annina Rajahuhta and Noora Rädy have? What else do they say about Slovakia? See the answers in the video below.