Would Sweden win the World Cup again? This was definitely the question many people asked themselves before the final.
Finland started great and lead by 3:0 after nine minutes. The kept Sweden under pressure and played great at the beginning with a great Henri Toivoniemi in the Finnish goal. Short before the break Magnus Svensson closed up to 3-1. In second half, the Swedes got definitely better. Conny Vesterlund scored the 3-2 in 29th minute, Peter Fisherström tied the score in the 32. minute, but Mika Kohonen brought the lead back to Finland. In third half, it was Hintikka who increased the lead again, before a Jihde's and Olofsson's goals tied the score again. Calebsson converted a penalty shot with five minutes on the clock, but the guest team could tie the score again in a dramatic and physical match.
In Sudden Death overtime, Peik Salminen got a unnecassary bench penalty. The Swedes took this chance by Svensson and got World Champions again. By the way, there are just pictures of the first two periods in here, as I just wanted to enjoy the last minutes of this WFC.


After the final match, it is time to resume about the the tournament just ended. To be honest, the amount of positive impressions I got from the 2006 World Floorball Championship will be very small compared to Helsinki 2002 or Zurich/Kloten 2004. Of course, the people and the volunteers have been very friendly, but there are too many negatives. On the sporting level, the worse A-group look like getting closer and closer as well as the B-group teams, but nevertheless, the best teams seem to more deteministic in their results again. But in special, it was the overall "World Cup" feeling that I missing. Starting from a city where nobody recognizes that the country's #2 sports is in town up to a ridiculous schedule with two wide-distanced arenas in Botkyrka and Solna make my thoughts about the tourney quite bad. While the order of play in Malmo and Helsingborg was reasonable, the Stockholm B-group teams seemed to play without public interest. Overall, none of the five arenas reached their capacity. I know it is a matter of political and financial reasons - but the IFF needs to care for the sports in first - which needs public attendance, especially in the smaller lower A-group and B-group floorball countries.