Floorball: Latvia lose 3–5 to Finland in opening game of friendly tournament

Latvia's men's national floorball team is playing a friendly tournament in Finland this weekend against two of the sport's leading nations, Finland and Sweden. In the opening game against Finland, the Latvians lost 3–5, though at least three of the Finnish goals followed avoidable mistakes.

How the game went

Finland scored early. After a corner play, they passed the ball behind the goal and quickly sent it in front of the net, where goalkeeper Pontus Zariņš could not stop it. Latvia levelled after a corner play of their own, with Pēteris Trekše shooting accurately from distance. Finland later scored again from very close range, and near the end Trekše struck once more while Latvia were playing six-on-five without a goalkeeper.

Bruno Beķeris from Cēsis, who has had a long scoring streak in Latvia's domestic Elvi league, also stood out. He raced down the right wing at speed and passed to Artis Raitums in the corner, then continued toward the goal, received the ball back and fired an unstoppable shot to make it 2–2. It was his second goal for the national team; the first came at the 2024 World Championship against the Czech Republic. Soon afterwards Krišjānis Tiltiņš hit the post, and Latvia missed a chance to take the lead.

Mistakes and statistics

Latvia twice lost the ball in their own half, and both led to goals. Another came on a fast counterattack after a Latvian defender's shot hit opponents' legs.

Trekše is now Latvia's all-time leading scorer in games against Finland with seven goals, while Raitums has five. Latvia's record against Finland over 34 matches is two wins and 32 defeats, with a goal difference of 72–266. Finland's historically most productive player against Latvia is Mika Kohonen with 20 (8+12) points; Justus Kainulainen has 13 (8+5), adding one assist this time.

Finnish commentators criticised their own team's pale display and noted that Latvia controlled two-thirds of the play. In that context, Aaro Astala's goal eight seconds before the end of the second period proved important.