"The Russian national team plays an extremely disciplined": foreign media - about the semifinal of the World Cup of Hockey with Finland

On Saturday, May 25, the Russian national hockey team will meet in the World Cup semi-final in Slovakia with a team from Finland. Previously, the “red car” won its eighth victory in a row at the tournament and was able to surpass last year's result in the world championship. Then wards Ilya Vorobiev lost to Canadians in the first round of the playoffs.

In Bratislava, the “red car” is the main contender for gold medals. However, the Finns are clearly not going to retreat: in the group stage, the team of Ykki Yalonen lost only once, and in the quarter-finals took precedence over the winners of the last two draws of the tournament - the Swedes.

In the Finnish media, they note that the Russian national team is a formidable opponent. So, in the publication Ilta-Sanomat note that the wards Vorobeva intend to win the tournament. Moreover, among the leaders of the team is not mentioned the top scorer and record holder for the number of points for the season in the NHL Nikita Kucherov.

“The Russian national team, led by Alexander Ovechkin, Evgeny Malkin and Nikita Gusev, has not lost a single match and is counting only on gold,” says Ilta-Sanomat on the pages.

In another Finnish newspaper Helsingin Sanomat, by contrast, Kucherov’s contribution to the success of the Russian team is noted.

“Most of the matches of the Russian national team resembled a hockey show in which the main stars of the team did whatever they wanted. Kucherov scored points on a regular basis, and Ovechkin and Malkin, although they did not demonstrate their best hockey, seriously helped their partners, ”the newspaper noted.

With the exception of the third-place matches, which were deprived of their due heat, over the past ten years, the national teams of Russia and Finland have met four times in the playoffs of the World Cup. Moreover, in 2014 this happened in the final - then Russia won.

However, the Finnish media recalled the meeting of 2011, which also took place at the stage of the 1/2 final of the planet's championship in Bratislava and Košice. Then the “lions” beat the Russians 3-0, and Mikael Granlund became one of the main characters. Forward not only scored the winning goal, but also recorded a pass to his account.

It was at that tournament that the Finnish national team won its only gold at the World Championships in the 21st century. In the final wards Yalonena prevailed over the Swedes and for the first time in 16 years won the title of the strongest national team of the planet.

“On Friday, Yalonen again walked down the corridor of the very“ Ondrey Nepel Arena ”, where he became world champion eight years ago. After the triumph, he came to the stadium several times as the head coach of SKA and Jokerit, and now he has returned as the Finland national team’s helm, ”they write in Ilta-Sanomat.

In this case, the mentor himself said that he remembers that tournament very well.

“I always have a good feeling when I am here. The fact that we won the last time in Bratislava is a rather interesting coincidence. But since that moment the Finnish national team has changed a lot, ”the specialist noted.

On the eve of the meeting, the newspaper Aamulehti turned to the well-known hockey player and coach Hanna Aravirt, who worked with Jokerit and the national team. According to the expert, despite the strength of the opponent, the Finnish national team has a chance to get the best of the “red car”.

“We have been playing quite successfully in matches with the Russians for a long time. The reason for this is our style of play, in which the main emphasis is shifted towards team action, rather than individual skill, ”Aravirt said.

The expert acknowledged that the Russian team has a number of strong qualities.

“The Russian national team plays in an extremely disciplined manner, its hockey players interact well with each other, and also behave quite restrained,” the specialist noted.

Aravirt believes in the success of the Finnish national team. He added that Yalonen’s charges have more chances to beat the Russian team than Sweden would have had.

The battles between the national teams of Russia and Finland are expected not only in the participating countries of the meeting, in particular in the USA. Recall, the US team lost to the Russians in the last round. In the publication FloHockey note that the "red car" - the favorite of the meeting.

“The Russian national team does not admire its game in defense, but well-coordinated teamwork makes it a favorite in the fight for gold. Add the incredible duet of Kucherov and Gusev - and Suomi has serious problems. At the same time, Vorobiev also has goalkeeper Andrei Vasilevsky, who is able to turn the tide of almost any unsuccessfully evolving meeting. Thus, Finland is waiting for a tough match, ”- noted in the publication.