World Cup QF: Sep 6 GDT - Germany vs. Finland

[psycho_dad*]

Let me just say that I'm ashamed by the couple of megahomering finns in this thread (you know who you are).

I know you are talking to me since I have the balls to say that Finland had no real probs with Germany. It has nothing to do with homerism....none of the top 7 teams have real problems with Germany just yet, maybe they will in several years. Germany may upset one of the big ones in a single game like Belarus did sweden, but today was not even close. Finland had it under control, they did lose it for a second when germany tied but after that goal Finland played hockey again..

Finland was playing like they would have been telling Germany "Ok lets just play a close game that we win and you get glory for being close instead of a blowout where we have to waste loads of energy."

 

[H/H]

The germans were outplaying the finns until the 1-0 goal.

No contrived argument gets around that fact.

 

[psycho_dad*]

The germans were outplaying the finns until the 1-0 goal.

No contrived argument gets around that fact.

I'm really sorry if you do not understand the fact that in matchups like this one, Team Finlands attitude was Finlands ONLY real opponent. I love the fact that Germany and Switzerland are growing top notch talent these days but it takes a long while untill they can really win by being the better team. Let's say Germany played on 5th gear today and Finland barely on 2nd.

It is not meant to ridicule germans, their team is young and will become dangerous once they get more players in the NHL. Finland went through this as well in one point and now they are in top 4....it only takes time and effort! German hockey has developed loads in past few years and they will continue with their 8th spot for a long time.

 

[Mr. Penguin]

psycho_dad, don't be ridiculous. I am sure everyone here except you saw that Finland was in real trouble, and in an important QF game I am sure none of the Finnish players would ever think of playing a close game just because they feel like it or think that it's enough. Germany is closer to the 7 top teams than many would think, so I am sure it wasn't team Finland's plan to play as badly as possible. Not in such an important game.

You have to give team Germany more credit. They played brilliantly, and almost won the game. Of course team Finland is capable of playing much better, and today they were probably too exhausted, or they just lacked the motivation, but because of Germany's good game the game was so tight. Germany's games are boring as hell, but since they lack so much talent, their tactic is perfect against the better nations. I am sure that even Canada would have had scoring problems against Germany.

 

[psycho_dad*]

You have to give team Germany more credit. They played brilliantly, and almost won the game. Of course team Finland is capable of playing much better, and today they were probably too exhausted, or they just lacked the motivation, but because of Germany's good game the game was so tight. Germany's games are boring as hell, but since they lack so much talent, their tactic is perfect against the better nations. I am sure that even Canada would have had scoring problems against Germany.

Yeah I dont want to take anything away from their credit, they DID play brilliant, they DID fight to their ability...they were 100% tonight. It's just not their time yet. Finland was 30% tonight...at best. But thats what I am trying to say, and you understand it also. Germany was only close because they played their strengths perfectly. Finland failed to do so because of bad motivation. But it was never a close game really. If Germany would have scored a 2-1 leading goal 1 minute before the end I would say it was close. But a 1-1 tie in the middle of 3rd period is just not it.....Finland is clearly the better team and can step up a gear or two or even 3. Germany was at their peak. There was no question. I am just glad that Germany has grown into a team that can actually challenge a top 7 team who have an attitude problem.....before they have been a team that will lose 6-0 to a top 7 team with an attitude problem. Soon they will win one of these games...

 

[SwisshockeyAcademy]

Yeah I dont want to take anything away from their credit, they DID play brilliant, they DID fight to their ability...they were 100% tonight. It's just not their time yet. Finland was 30% tonight...at best. But thats what I am trying to say, and you understand it also. Germany was only close because they played their strengths perfectly. Finland failed to do so because of bad motivation. But it was never a close game really. If Germany would have scored a 2-1 leading goal 1 minute before the end I would say it was close. But a 1-1 tie in the middle of 3rd period is just not it.....Finland is clearly the better team and can step up a gear or two or even 3. Germany was at their peak. There was no question. I am just glad that Germany has grown into a team that can actually challenge a top 7 team who have an attitude problem.....before they have been a team that will lose 6-0 to a top 7 team with an attitude problem. Soon they will win one of these games...

So if Germany had cashed in on three of their shots and ended up winning 3-2 the game would not be close really though. I mean the score would be close but the Finns could have taken a moral victory because they were only at 30% and the German's were at their peak. It was 1-1 with just over five minutes to play so keep chipping away at what is now an absurd argument. I am not trying to tell you the Germans are on their level as a program but i'm only interested in the game at hand, and the bloody game at hand was close today no matter what kind of George Bush ******** spin you are trying to put on it.

 

[High flyin' Habs*]

3-1 Finland.

I predited it didn't I?

 

[teme]

I know you are talking to me since I have the balls to say that Finland had no real probs with Germany. It has nothing to do with homerism....none of the top 7 teams have real problems with Germany just yet, maybe they will in several years. Germany may upset one of the big ones in a single game like Belarus did sweden, but today was not even close. Finland had it under control, they did lose it for a second when germany tied but after that goal Finland played hockey again..

Finland was playing like they would have been telling Germany "Ok lets just play a close game that we win and you get glory for being close instead of a blowout where we have to waste loads of energy."

Somebody named you the Finnish Information Minister?

We played like crap, and Germans played damn well. Respect to Sturm, Hecht, Kreutzer, Seiderberg, Ludeman, Kolzig... The biggest mistake Finns made was allowing Germans to believe they actually have a shot at winning, and after they started believing they played fine hockey. Good efforts by Kipper, Timonen and few others saved the day.

I honestly think Germans, and maybe Swiss or even Austrians will be able to contend with the big boys fairly soon. I like the young German players, if they can keep that production up they should be pretty good pretty soon.

 

[SwisshockeyAcademy]

Somebody named you the Finnish Information Minister?
LoL!!

 

[Eds]

It was 1-1 with just over five minutes to play so keep chipping away at what is now an absurd argument. I am not trying to tell you the Germans are on their level as a program but i'm only interested in the game at hand, and the bloody game at hand was close today no matter what kind of George Bush ******** spin you are trying to put on it.

Of course it was close, but the reason it was close was that Finland let it be close. They played poorly, but even so they were able to do what Germany couldn't with their best of efforts: score the necessary goals, and that's what this game is about.

I'm not trying to downplay Germany's game in any way, because they played better than I'm sure anyone could have expected, but they just didn't have enough skill to take the game home in the end. If this had been any other team of the tournament playing against this mentally amputated form of team Finland, they would have scored the necessary goals when given the chance and walked away with the semi-final tickets. So I guess in a way one could argue that Finland was lucky: lucky to be playing this quarter final against Germany of all teams, but then, it wasn't really luck that got us there in the first place.

 

[broman]

Two days ago Summanen wanted his team to play exactly like he wanted. Strictly follow his game plan. Today the hole team was just battling for their lifes and they sure didn`t play like Summanen wanted em to play. But somehow it didn`t matter to Summanen today??? He was so lucky to get away of the panic sitution which Germany caused.

I am not sure which interview it was that you were watching, but right after the game at Channel Four he noted this is crunch time. What matters from now on is the result, not style. That's not to say he was happy with the team style of play, just that the result makes up for it.

Predictably, he said the commotion caused by Niinimaa case may have affected some players. Also, the players were still feeling the effects of the hard Sweden game in their legs. Which was obvious to anyone watching the game, and explains some of the sub-par performance.

Backstabbers can slag Summanen's persona to their hearts' content but the fact remains we are in final four. In the end that is all that matters. Next up USA or Russia.

 

[broman]

Oh and as for the game itself, don't know about you but IMO the first line never really showed up. Might be down to the Niinimaa case and the added responsibility the captains have had to bear over the past 24 hrs, but still. I don't think it's a coincidence that Summanen sent in Peltonen instead of Selanne for the dying seconds, thus recreating the Huey-Dewey-Louie line of '95. I tend to agree with the studio commentators that Selanne might actually be a better fit with Jokinen and Ruutu. The problem is though that I wouldn't know if they've played together that much. It's a bit late for experimenting.

 

[Pepper]

I know you are talking to me since I have the balls to say that Finland had no real probs with Germany. It has nothing to do with homerism....

It has everything with homerism, those of us who watched the game without blue&white glasses saw a much less talented team almost beating us. It doesn't matter whether Finland played at 30%, there was absolutely no evidence of Finland being able to come back if fallen behind 2-1. Finland didn't have in under control, when Germans made it 1-1 it was Germans who came closer scoring a 2nd goal than the finns. Fortunately Eloranta's extremely lucky tip made it 2-1 and we won.

Finland was playing like they would have been telling Germany "Ok lets just play a close game that we win and you get glory for being close instead of a blowout where we have to waste loads of energy."

You're kidding right?

 

[Taze]

Ok, the game was horrible for us, but we got the "W" out of it, which is all that matters. Germany made the game very hard for us, having 4 or even 5 guys at own blueline all the time and that stick work... oh well, they almost made it. But please, I hope no one claims these NHL refs are good, blatantly horrible game to watch, even in SM-league games you don't see that much hooking.

Anyway biggest reason for the game flow was of course the poor skating from Finland, clearly their legs weren't fresh and that is something, that needs to change before next game. Obviously the few extra days will help to handle "the Niinimaa case" too, so we should be mentally more ready for the game, not to mention we'll get to be the underdogs, no matter who is the opponent.

Oh yeah, and we have Kipper .

 

[mikkoz]

This was a routine victory for the finns, one of the reasons for their style of playing probably was to save them to semi-finals.

And German team was more efficient with Hans.

 

[SwisshockeyAcademy]

This was a routine victory for the finns, one of the reasons for their style of playing probably was to save them to semi-finals.

And German team was more efficient with Hans.

Sarcasm at its best.

 

[weetabix]

it takes time

Every German knows that we are not on the same level as the Top 7 Nations.

It is just anoying to loose so many close games in the knock out stages starting at the Olympics in 1992.

Well if it helps you a bit you can watch Finlands successes in canada and world cups in the early days.
1976, 1 win, 4 losses, goal difference 16-42
1981, 1 draw, 4 losses
1987, 5 losses
1991, 2 wins, 1 draw, 2 losses, and semifinal defeat to USA 7-3
1996, 2 wins, 2 losses, quarterfinal defeat to Russia 5-0

So it takes time.

 

[mikkoz]

Sarcasm at its best.

Not much.