The caps are soaked

The Russian team in the semifinals of the World Cup lost to Canada the main match of the tournament. Now it doesn’t care how the dispute for bronze will end

In order to more clearly understand the difference between the Parisian hockey party and Cologne, it was enough to go long through the Hohenzollern bridge across the Rhine to the Lanksess Arena in a different hand and a variety of crowd. In the immediate vicinity to the center of events, it was already a whirlpool, circling a whirlwind and pulling inward. In the hockey pool - with the head.

In the morning, the “Danube waves” walked in the ears, which sincerely grew an accordionist right before the rise to the bridge. The waltz inspired well-defined memories associated with the 2005 Vienna, where we stayed with bronze, and with Bratislava-2011, where we were left without medals. According to the Danube associations today, that is, on Saturday, Russia could only wait for Russia.

After the Parisian severity, the “Lanksess Arena”, which was around and inside the grandiose standards, was struck by the unlimited freedom of movement and behavior. No checks and inspections, no barriers and fences. Go wherever you want, take off what you want, just to do not interfere with others.

Freedom had its costs. The Russian mat, meaningless and merciless, sounded around the arena, if not in full force, but quite clearly. Our people, obviously, believe in the magical power of certain words that the whole world already knows.

The hall, of course, was two -thirds of Russian and clearly incomplete. The latter circumstance said that up to 700 thousand, the total number of fans would clearly not be injected. But last year’s Moscow and Peter with their miserable vision Paris and Cologne were bypassed during the group round.

... There was nothing special to write about the quarterfinals, but there were still no paradox - in all four cases the guests won. The Russians and the Swedes “took” Paris, Cologne - Canadians and Finns. The Czechs, the Swiss, the Germans and the Americans, who remained on their “their” arenas, looked much worse than visitors, although according to logic everything should have been the other way around.

The Czech team did not even have enough for one period - the Russians restrained the first onslaught, successfully scored, and then they tried to do everything to prevent the Czech attack from walking around. The Finnish national team hung up of a frisky Americans, which was, perhaps, the main surprise of the quarterfinal round. The Swedes beat Switzerland due to higher individual skill. Well, the Germans in Cologne were already satisfied with the fact that they abandoned Canada one puck - “maple” did not even turn on the “maple”.

The experts considered the composition of the semi -final pairs unequal, but had to come to terms with the fact that the most spectacular sign of Canada -Russia was transferred to the semifinals, which in the new century happened only once. The Russians were to blame for this situation, who lost first place in group “A” of the US team. So Russia remained, without complaining about fate, to go out and beat the current world champions, despite the ranks and complexes.

We have exactly ten people of the main composition never played against the national team of Canada. The rest were more of a negative experience with the ancestors of hockey, who were not averse to taking the gold of the world championships and finally fix their total superiority. No depending on which tournament and which they managed to assemble the composition.

The John Cooper team at the preliminary stage in Paris made only one misfire that did not affect the result at all. The players did not amaze with speed, but by speed of decision -making, sharpness, the ability to change the rhythm and rigidly pressure if necessary. The majority draw surprised not only me - the Canadians made rivals to burn with the instant movement of the puck to their gates, from which the defenders had their head in a circle. “Maple leaves” did not find clearly weak places, except that the goalkeeper line, as it seemed to me, was somewhat inferior to the others.

You could expect anything from ours - both confidence and even solidity, before which the Czechs were saved, and the "Nervous" turning into the stupor, so they gave way to the Americans completely inappropriately. At the last training session, the head coach of the Russian national team Oleg Znarok model the upcoming game with the pace with full calculation.

Both sides were cautious in forecasts. With fans, demand is small, but the few Canadian behaved modestly. Ours habitually dominated “We will break everyone!”.

... The Russians who came to Cologne, neither money nor voices spared. In the Lanksess Arena, the Russian team could feel at home, which, in fact, helped to immediately show the nominal owners that they were not afraid of them at all. The Russians were not inferior in anything, and in some ways even exceeded Canada. I would say that they looked like a good hungry, and forced the rivals more often-at first only players in black and red. Although the Russians could not create anything particularly sharp, they exhausted the rivals pretty much.

Starting from the second half of the match, Canada seemed to “swim”. It was even possible to allow the rival to make fun of the opponent, as was done in the episode with the first abandoned puck Artemy Panarin with Evgeny Kuznetsov. A few minutes later, Panarin already assisted Nikita Gusev, strengthening the leadership in the Bombardier race.

The fact that it is impossible to calm down in any case, the coaches should not only convey to hockey players, but also rest it into their heads. The situation could turn over in any second, which confirmed my worst fears. When the classic Canadian majority with a quick rally worked, it became heard that Canada among 16 and a half thousand spectators have fans. But they could not block the collective whistle or chanting of Russians for the time being.

The Russian team went to delete - one after another. Anxiety grew. Artyom tooth was expelled from the site for the second time, and after that Evgeny Kuznetsov habitually and stupidly retired, and for a dangerous attack on the goalkeeper. What was happening was too clearly resembled the end of the meeting with the Americans, and after Nathan McKinnon completed the stressed five -minute of his team and made an account equal, the associations became frightening.

The Russian national team was predictably, everyday and standard, which was especially disappointing.

It takes full control of the middle zone, continuously presses, throws - at the first opportunity, and when the Piglet becomes Canadian, goals are a matter of time. The washers of McKinnon and O`railly (which became decisive) divided only one and a half minutes. The goal in the empty gate became a cherry on the cake.

In Paris, I listened to the Canadian Anthem on the "Akkorkhotels Arena" three times, in Cologne I had to listen again. At the most unpleasant moment. Oleg Znarok said that the team had a good match, that he had nothing to blame the guys who fought until the last minutes.

Such a preamble does not imply clarifying questions - the strategy did not work.

Cologne