I haven’t posted anything on this website for months, and I’ve come to feel that it’s not worth doing so any more. I can’t write any meaningful articles because I haven’t been following Finnish football closely enough for quite some time. “Real life” has got in the way, unfortunately. University, work and a relationship consume most of my time, and are obviously higher priorities than writing here.

I expect this will my last update. I’ll keep the site online at least until the end of the 2014 World Cup, in case my match reports of Finland’s qualifiers prove useful to anyone.

Thanks to everyone who has shown enthusiasm for this project; I’m sorry to bring it to an end. I suggest you get your fix of Finnish football news from Escape to Suomi, which covers far more of the subject than I ever have, with a particular focus on the domestic scene. When the Frozen Pitch started, it was probably the only English website with such a focus on Finland, but I’m happy to see there is now another. It’s in good hands.

If you need to contact me for any reason, you can find all my details on this page.

Over and out.

The majority of the game’s talking points came in a frantic 10-minute period in the second half. After an evenly matched but rather underwhelming opening 45 minutes, Finland returned from the interval with much more attacking intent. The 53rd minute brought their best chance of the match so far, with a move that went through both Eremenko brothers to Jukka Raitala on the right wing. He delivered an excellent cross which an unchallenged Tim Sparv rose to meet. The goal was there for the taking, but Sparv got his header all wrong, connecting only with the back of his head, and the ball fell instead to Kasper Hämäläinen arriving at the far post. He tried desperately to turn the ball back in, but he was already at such a tight angle that he could only manage to hit the outside of the post.

The game flowed from end to end following that chance, until a couple of minutes later Georgia won a corner off the leg of Juhani Ojala. The delivery took a completely unintentional deflection off Guram Kashia and crept into the Finnish goal, catching Niki Mäenpää by surprise. It may have been against the balance of play in the second half, but it felt like a fitting punishment for Finland for missing such a glorious chance moments earlier.

Things went from bad to worse for the home side another couple of minutes down the line. Alexei Eremenko Jr, making his first competitive start since the 5-0 loss to Sweden last year, picked up his second yellow card and received his marching orders. It was one of the most pointless red cards imaginable. His first yellow card had been for dissent after the Ukrainian match referee had not given him a free kick in the first half, and his second was for a “hand of god” moment as he made contact with a cross with his outstretched arms. Mixu Paatelainen went on to say that it was a reflexive action, and that much was clear from Eremenko’s reaction; he knew immediately what he had done and headed for the tunnel in shame before the referee had even reached for his pocket. Nevertheless, it reflected very poorly on his manager, who had announced Eremenko’s recall in the pre-match press conference, where he made a point of talking up his abilities and fitness.

Being reduced to ten men forced Paatelainen into making his first change of the match, as Perparim Hetemaj, left out of the starting line-up to make room for Eremenko Jr, came on for the largely ineffective Teemu Pukki. That change pushed Kasper Hämäläinen forward into the lone striker’s position, which soon brought its reward. In the 62nd minute, Sparv made amends for his earlier miss with an incisive long pass down Finland’s left side, which found Hämäläinen. A deft drop of his shoulder left Zurab Khizanishvili tripping over himself, after which the Djurgården player slotted the ball past Nukri Revishvili and into the far corner of the net. It was a pleasing goal to watch, one that took no small amount of confidence and skill from Hämäläinen to pull off, and all the more so given that Finland had pulled themselves back into the match despite being a man down. Finland’s captain, Niklas Moisander, praised Hämäläinen’s performance after the match, noting that he doesn’t play as a striker for his club but has impressed in the role for Finland recently.

That disadvantage allowed Georgia to enjoy the lion’s share of possession in the remaining half hour, and it was largely thanks to Niki Mäenpää that Finland remained level. The Venlo goalkeeper, starting his first competitive international match after impressing against the Czech Republic last month, was called into action three or four times, but he was more than up for the challenge. Paatelainen indicated that he will be selected for the forthcoming friendly against Cyprus as well, which makes sense; Mäenpää has already impressed with his reflexes and command of the penalty area, but needs more experience if he is to become Finland’s new permanent number one.

The match finished 1-1, and Finland were left to reflect on what went wrong in a match they could easily have won. Georgia played smartly, wasting time when it suited them and generally winding up their opponents, which led to the aforementioned dissent, which was also on show from Roman Eremenko and Alexander Ring, while Perparim Hetemaj picked up a silly yellow card for diving in the last few minutes of the game. There were also a worrying number of rash lunges from Finnish players that would easily have merited bookings had they made any contact. None of that excuses the poor performance and result, though, and both coach and captain expressed their regret that the team couldn’t pick up three points.

“We had the ball a lot in the first half, as we had wanted, but we couldn’t create chances. In the second half we had an unlucky goal go against us and then a stupid red card, which made it really difficult. I’m proud of how we fought back and at least got a draw, but we went for the win today and didn’t get it, so it’s disappointing,” said Moisander.

“We were ineffective,” condeded Paatelainen. “There wasn’t enough concentration from our players. Even though we were the better team, we didn’t ask enough questions of Georgia’s defence. We still tried to attack after the red card, but we didn’t want to play in a kamikaze style. Against France we improved in the second half after a poor first half, but here it was the other way round.”

Team line-ups
FINLAND (4-5-1)	GEORGIA (x-y-z)
1. Niki Mäenpää (GK)	1. Nukri Revishvili (GK)
3. Niklas Moisander (C)	2. Sandro Kobakhidze
4. Juhani Ojala	3. Gia Grigalava
7. Roman Eremenko	4. Guram Kashia
10. Teemu Pukki	5. Aleksandre Amisulashvili
14. Tim Sparv	6. Zurab Khizanishvili
18. Jere Uronen	7. Jaba Kankava (C)
19. Alexander Ring	8. Murtaz Daushvili
20. Alexei Eremenko Jr	9. Davit Targamadze
21. Kasper Hämäläinen	10. Tornike Okriashvili
22. Jukka Raitala	11. Levan Mchedlidze
Substitutions: 8. Perparim Hetemaj (for Teemu Pukki, 62)	Substitutions: 20. Davit Devdariani (for Levan Mchedlidze, 59) 17. Jano Ananidze (for Tornike Okriashvili, 67) 21. Levan Kenia (for Davit Targamadze, 81)

Observations
Finland’s best performers tonight were Kasper Hämäläinen, who took his goal superbly, Niki Mäenpää, who kept his team in the game and further staked his claim to be first-choice, and Jere Uronen, who showed impressive confidence to run past players and make crosses in what was his competitive debut. Their worst perfomer has to be Eremenko Jr, who frequently misplaced passes and failed to have much of an impact going forward, in addition to his stupid sending off. His brother Roman Eremenko also had a quiet night, while Alexander Ring looked flustered right from the start and made too many poor decisions. Teemu Pukki was anonymous, but I feel it would be wrong to put all of the blame on him for that, as he was playing on his own up front and didn’t get the necessary support to be effective. He had a couple of nice runs and touches, but didn’t have a single shot in the match.

Finland needed to win this match to give their confidence a boost and increase the likelihood of them finishing third in their qualifying group. Things are only going to get more difficult from this point onwards: their next match is away to Spain next March, an utterly daunting task. After that comes a home match against Belarus, which has now become a must-win game if Finland are to muster anything approaching a respectable points tally from this campaign. It’s understandable, and commendable, that Finland are buildling for their future, but they need results along the way to show that they are making progress. Tonight was a perfect opportunity to do that, and they wasted it.

Finland find themselves in a rare situation going into their next 2014 World Cup qualifying match: they are favourites to win. Georgia are the visitors on Friday night, and although they are 65th in the world rankings to Finland’s 88th, home advantage and recent good form mean that Mixu Paatelainen’s men will expect to pick up their first three points of the campaign.

Georgia aren’t in bad form themselves, however. In their last match they came very close to pulling off a shock draw against World and European champions Spain, conceding the only goal of the match with just four minutes of time remaining to lose 0-1. Previous to that, they beat Belarus 1-0 in their opening qualifier and picked up a 1-2 win in Luxembourg, who Finland will play next March.

At this point if my previews I normally mention the past history between the teams, but in this case, they have never met. If that sounds surprising, it’s worth remembering that Georgia’s national team only came into existence a little over twenty years ago, in 1990. This match is therefore a chance for one of the teams to secure a 100% record against the other. If that’s not an extra incentive to win, I don’t know what is.

The Finland squad is listed below. Clubs are from Finland unless otherwise stated.

Goalkeepers
Lukas Hradecky, Esbjerg fB (Denmark)
Niki Mäenpää, VVV Venlo (Netherlands)
Henri Sillanpää, Tromsø IL (Norway)

Defenders
Paulus Arajuuri, Kalmar FF (Sweden)
Mikko Sumusalo, HJK *
Markus Halsti, Malmö FF (Sweden)
Niklas Moisander, AFC Ajax (Netherlands)
Juhani Ojala, BSC Young Boys (Switzerland)
Petri Pasanen, AGF Aarhus (Denmark)
Jukka Raitala, SC Heerenveen (Netherlands)
Joona Toivio, Djurgårdens IF (Sweden)
Jere Uronen, Helsingborgs IF (Sweden)

Midfielders
Alexei Eremenko Jr, FC Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Roman Eremenko, FC Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Perparim Hetemaj, AC Chievo Verona (Italy)
Kasper Hämäläinen, Djurgårdens IF (Sweden)
Toni Kolehmainen, Hønefoss BK (Norway)
Alexander Ring, VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (Germany)
Mika Ojala, FC Inter
Daniel Sjölund, Djurgårdens IF (Sweden)
Tim Sparv, FC Groningen (Netherlands
Roni Porokara, Ironi Kiryat Shmona (Israel) **

Strikers ***
Teemu Pukki, FC Schalke 04 (Germany)

* Replaced Kari Arkivuo.
** Replaced Mika Väyrynen.
*** Njazi Kuqi withdrew from the squad but was not replaced.

Three players had to pull out of the match squad through injury – the very same injury, in fact, a thigh strain. Two of them were replaced, but such is the paucity of Finland’s attacking options currently that a replacement player for Njazi Kuqi was not called up, leaving Teemu Pukki as the team’s only recognised striker. A few other players can play in the role if required, however, including Kasper Hämäläinen, Roni Porokara and Mika Ojala, who makes his first appearance in the squad since June’s Baltic Cup.

Georgia’s squad list is available on their football association’s website (through Google Translate). Among their ranks is a player from Finland’s Veikkausliiga, Irakli Sirbiladze, who players for FC Inter alongside Mika Ojala.

The full match will be televised in Finland on YLE TV2, with coverage starting at 18:05, 25 minutes before kick-off. YLE will also stream the match on their Areena service for viewers in Finland. Goals, cards and other major incidents will also be live-Tweeted from the stadium (internet connection permitting) on the Frozen Pitch Twitter page.

Mäenpää missed last week’s encounter with France due to a cold, but had sufficiently recovered to start for Finland against the Czech Republic. The Espoo-born goalkeeper is normally considered third in the pecking order in the national team, behind Otto Fredrikson and Lukas Hradecky, but put in a performance on Tuesday that Mixu Paatelainen described as “sensational” to stake his claim for further starts.

Finland produced one of their best 45 minutes of football under Paatelainen to take a one-goal lead at the interval, and in truth their lead could have been greater still. Teemu Pukki scored their goal with a couple of minutes left in the half. Mika Väyrynen, restored to the side in place of Tim Sparv, did well to evade a number of tackles in midfield before passing the ball to Pukki. The Schalke striker still had work to do, though, and held on to the ball despite the challenges of two Czech defenders before firing a controlled shot past their goalkeeper, Jan Laštůvka. Laštůvka had earlier denied Pukki, while Kasper Hämäläinen and Perparim Hetemaj had seen their shots narrowly miss the target.

Sustaining a performance over the course of a full match has been one of Finland’s difficulties lately, and that proved to be the case again in the second half. The Czechs started strongly and took play further and further up the field as the match went on, eventually setting up camp in and around the Finnish penalty area. Tomas Sivok came closest to scoring for the hosts, as he hit the post, but otherwise Mäenpää proved too difficult to beat.

The full-time whistle came as a relief to Finland, who secured another fine result away from home to go with their 2-3 victory over Turkey in the summer. Both of those matches were friendlies, of course, but they both yielded valuable FIFA ranking points and suggest Finland really are improving. They will go into their next 2014 World Cup qualifier, against Georgia in October, as slight favourites, though Georgia proved themselves tough to beat as well by holding Spain at 0-0 until the 86th minute of their encounter on Tuesday.

Match type: Friendly international
Date: Tuesday the 11th of September, 2012
Local kick-off time: 18:00 (UTC+2)
Finnish kick-off time: 19:00 (UTC+3)
Venue: Na Stínadlech, Teplice
Capacity: 18 211
Odds: Czech Republic 1.44, Draw 4.52, Finland 8.60

Injuries and a cold virus have disrupted Finland’s preparations for tonight’s match against the Czech Republic. Markus Halsti is the latest player to be taken ill with a cold, after Niki Mäenpää and Jukka Raitala already had to sit out the match against France last Friday. Alexei Eremenko Jr and Petri Pasanen didn’t make the trip to Teplice after picking up injuries in training, while Jere Uronen and Riku Riski had earlier withdrawn from the squad due to injuries of their own.

I may have berated the fact that Finland would have to play extra friendlies due to their small qualifying group, but with such a thin squad, it is perhaps just as well that this match is not a competitive one. In addition to the enforced changes, head coach Mixu Paatelainen is likely to give a few less experienced players a chance to prove their worth to the team. Njazi Kuqi is one player who could benefit, being one of only two recognised strikers in the squad, as he looks to win his 10th cap.

Once again, Finland find themselves up against a team who are much stronger than them on paper and who have a much stronger pedigree in the international arena. They have qualified for every European Championship since the dissolution of Czechoslovakia, finishing as runners-up at the first attempt in 1996 and coming third in 2004. They have also attended one World Cup, in 2006. Finland, of course, are still waiting to make their debut at a major tournament. They are currently ranked 96th in the world by FIFA while their opponents are as high as 19th.

The Czech Republic have drawn the two matches they have played since being knocked out of Euro 2012 by Portugal at the quarter-final stage. Their last match was a 0-0 draw with Denmark in their 2014 World Cup qualifying group. Finland, of course, lost their last match 0-1 to France in a tightly-contested match in Helsinki.

Finland have played the Czech Republic three times since their independence, losing all three matches. Additionally, they met Czechoslovakia six times, winning two, drawing two and losing two. Their first encounter was back in 1970.

The Finland squad is largely the same as it was for the France match, except for the withdrawals I mentioned above. Jarkko Hurme is the only replacement player to have been called up. The Czech Republic squad can be viewed at their football association’s website (in Czech). It is worth noting that Petr Cech will miss the match due to a hand injury picked up against Denmark.

I am not expecting Finland to come away with anything from this match – in fact, if it weren’t a friendly, I would say it was a more difficult prospect than playing France at home. Nevertheless, Finland have played well enough recently, so they must start to pick up some good results. Their target must be to at least draw the match, which would give them a few much-needed ranking points after the ones they had picked up in the Baltic Cup this summer were stripped from them. As it stands, Finland have only half as many points for 2012 as they managed in each of the previous three years. It’s not that the ranking itself is important, only that it will affect the country’s seedings in future qualifying draws, such as for Euro 2016.

Disappointingly, the match won’t be shown on free-to-air television in Finland, only on the subscription channel Nelonen Pro, who will be starting their broadcast five minutes before kick-off, at 18:55 Finnish time.

The main event got under way at 16:15, and it was immediately clear that both sets of players lacked match practice, the ball frequently going out of play for unintentional goal kicks and throw-ins. The focus was on entertainment rather than absolute quality, though, and the former was present in abundance. It took only three minutes for the goals to start flowing. Litmanen found Jonatan Johansson on the right wing. His crossed was not cleared properly and the ball fell to Aki Riihilahti, who lifted the ball either cleverly or completely by accident over Andy Goram in the opposing goal.

A well-disguised pass from Litmanen a couple of minutes later allowed Teemu Tainio to pull off a backheeled flick that also got the crowd cheering, but it came to nothing, and the World XI managed to score from their counter-attack through Jesper Jansson, who had been set up by Boudewijn Zenden. The “away” side then hit the post twice in two minutes – or to be precise, they hit the post once and former Finland defender Juha Reini did the same by accident after chesting down a cross. They didn’t have to wait long to take the lead, though. Jansson went from goalscorer to provider as he set up Erik Nevland in the 22nd minute. The Viking FK striker evaded Finland’s offside trap and then beat Antti Niemi one-on-one with a drilled shot into the bottom corner.

Substitutions for the match happened “on the fly”, with current Finland manager Mixu Paatelainen making his first appearance after about half an hour. His every touch was greeted with good-natured but ironic cheers, presumably based on his current less-than-athletic physique, but he actually came close to scoring with his second touch, drawing a good save from Andy Goram.

Goram was called into action again at the start of the second half, diving smartly to deny Toni Kallio. That was one of the last serious actions in the game, as it became increasingly absurd. First, Teemu Tainio was shown a card for dissent, of all things. The referee then gave a completely phantom penalty to Finland to allow them to level the match up again. Litmanen had attempted a diving header in the World XI penalty area, which prompted both him and a number of other players to act like he had been injured, even though he had been completely untouched. It was probably a pre-arranged event, with the referee in on the joke, to allow Litmanen to take a penalty. He duly scored to make it 2-2.

Two minutes later, Finland were awarded a legitimate penalty after Jarkko Wiss pulled off a Pelé-style flick and received an arm across his throat for his trouble. Litmanen, already on the scoresheet, demanded that Niemi come up to take the spot-kick, goalkeeper on goalkeeper. Niemi struck his shot well and put Finland into the lead for the first time. Goram had a chance for revenge only moments later as a Zenden free-kick hit a hand in the Finnish wall, leading to a penalty at the other end of the field. His shot was not as accomplished, however, and Niemi saved, leading Goram to chase after him in comic rage before slowly retreating to his own goal.

It was all Finland from that point onwards. Litmanen doubled his personal tally to make it 4-2 from point-blank range before the Sheriff, Shefki Kuqi, delighted the fans with Finland’s fifth goal, turned in from a Litmanen corner in the last minute of the match. He celebrated with his trademark swan dive – which is more of a swan flop, really – to start the party in the stands.

There had been more moments of comedy in between, including a bundle in the World XI penalty area started by Goram, and then Litmanen, forming a bundle on top of Paatelainen (commentator Tapio Suominen’s explanation: perfectly normal in Scotland) and a bit of banter between former Tottenham Hotspur team-mates Tainio and Pascal Chimbonda, but the final whistle brought a different emotion to the fore: gratitude.

The eleven thousand fans who had turned up showed their appreciation for Finland’s best-ever generation of players. The moniker “Golden” should be used with caution, as they didn’t manage to qualify for any tournaments, but they did come very close on more than one occasion, providing fans with hope, the one thing they need more than than anything else. The players, too, thanked the fans who had shared the journey with them.

One player came close to stealing the show, and his identity should come as no surprise. Yes, the legend of The King continues to grow. He received the biggest cheer before the match, his name was the first to be chanted, and even the pre-school children sitting near me, who couldn’t possibly have seen him in his prime, were demanding that the ball be passed to him whenever possible. He repaid the fans with a man-of-the-match performance, scoring two goals himself and setting up countless chances for his team-mates. Speaking after the match, he joked “the victory was important today”, and when asked if he was going to continue playing, he remained coy, saying “today was just the first match of my season”. This was undoubtedly the last time we will see Litmanen in action wearing a Finland shirt, though. He had a fantastic international career which fully merits the theme of the day. Respect, Jari.

Finland (“Sankarit” in Finnish, meaning Heroes):
Antti Niemi (GK), Sami Hyypiä, Hannu Tihinen, Mika Nurmela, Jari Litmanen (C), Joonas Kolkka, Toni Kuivasto, Aki Riihilahti, Toni Kallio, Jonatan Johansson, Markus Heikkinen.

Substitutes: Janne Saarinen, Jarkko Wiss, Teemu Tainio, Mixu Paatelainen, Juha Reini, Shefki Kuqi.

World XI:
Andy Goram (GK), Dougie Freedman, Erik Nevland, Michael Svensson, Boudewijn Zenden, Ronald de Boer (C), André Ooijer, Jesper Jansson, Lars Blixt, Runár Kristinsson, Elias Storm.

Substitutes: Pascal Chimbonda, Russell Latapy, Leif Gunnar Smerud

Mixu Paatelainen sprung at least one surprise with his starting line-up, omitting Petri Pasanen in favour of Markus Halsti, who was winning only his ninth cap. Halsti played at left-back, allowing Kari Arkivuo to play on his preferred right side, with Niklas Moisander and Joona Toivio in the middle. Kasper Hämäläinen started as the most advanced midfielder, providing support to Teemu Pukki, on his own in attack. That meant there was no place for Alexei Eremenko Jr.

France took control of the game within the first five minutes, setting up camp in Finland’s half and reducing the home side to counter-attacks. They had particular success down their left side, with Patrice Evra, Franck Ribery and Karim Benzema, drifting wide from his central position, combining to good effect. Most of their attempts in the early stages were speculative long-range shots, however, as Finland’s defence held their shape.

Finland’s first real chance came after 14 minutes, with Perparim Hetemaj playing a nicely weighted ball over the top to find Kasper Hämäläinen. With only the goalkeeper to beat, he hesitated, allowing a French defender to get in a tackle. Despite the vociferous appeals of the players and fans at the stadium, the referee declined to award a penalty. Replays proved his decision correct.

The home side pressed on from there, but their attacking intent led to a French goal, in the end. After twenty minutes, a clever through ball from Alexander Ring, one of Finland’s brightest performers, allowed Teemu Pukki to give chase. Hugo Lloris, in goal for France, shepherded the ball out of play expertly and then indirectly set up France’s opener. His goal kick fell to Finnish feet but was immediately given away, allowing Abou Diaby to run between Finland’s centre-back pairing and finish expertly past Lukas Hradecky. Diaby is in the form of his life at the moment, for both club and country, but Paatelainen rightly declared his goal “needless”.

Finland continued to attack, as they had to, and actually began to control the game. Ring and Hetemaj were pulling the strings in midfield, although often their individual skill was not matched with the right runs or the requisite vision to pick out team-mates. At half-time, Finland were behind but undoubtedly hopeful of turning things around.

It was France who started the second half the brightest, though. Hradecky was called upon to make two fine saves in the 51st minute of the match, first from a long-range Yohan Cabaye effort and then once more from the resulting corner. He kept Finland’s hopes alive, but they couldn’t capitalise, all too often giving the ball away in midfield. Roman Eremenko was perhaps the biggest culprit, as he suffered one of his worst performances for Finland. He is so important to Finland that when he plays badly, it’s almost inevitable that the whole team does as well. Paatelainen obviously has a lot of trust in him, because when he made his first substitution, it was the impressive Hetemaj who made way rather than the off-key Rubin Kazan player.

That substitution was just after Finland had created their best chance of the match. Ring was once again involved, driving into the right side of France’s penalty area before playing a neat pass to Pukki, whose shot looked to be on target but took a deflection and went out for a corner. Pukki hit an “air shot” from the resulting corner when he was again in a good position.

Finland were not able to fashion any more clear-cut chances, as the game became scrappier, both teams making substitutions and a few players picking up yellow cards. One particularly frustrating incident occurred in the 85th minute, when Pukki was tackled in the French half in what looked to be a foul. Roman Eremenko, despite being closest to the ball, stopped play to appeal to the referee, which allowed France to reclaim possession. Regardless of the fact he had a point, he should have played to the whistle. Moments later, Frank Ribery appeared to dive to earn Moisander a yellow card, drawing further ire from the home crowd. Finland, now with two strikers on the pitch after Njazi Kuqi’s introduction, continued to push forward, but the match finished 1-1.

Team line-ups
Referee: Craig Alexander Thomson (Scotland)
FINLAND (4-5-1)	FRANCE (4-5-1)
1. Lukas Hradecky (GK)	1. Hugo Lloris (GK, C)
3. Niklas Moisander (C)	2. Mapou Yanga Mbiwa
4. Joona Toivio	3. Patrice Evra
7. Roman Eremenko	5. Mamadou Sakho
8. Perparim Hetemaj	6. Yohan Cabaye
10. Teemu Pukki	7. Franck Ribery
13. Kari Arkivuo	10. Karim Benzema
14. Tim Sparv	11. Rio Mavuba
15. Markus Halsti	13. Anthony Reveillere
19. Alexander Ring	14. Jérémy Menez
21. Kasper Hämäläinen	19. Abou Diaby (1 goal)
Substitutions: 20. Alexei Eremenko Jr (for Perparim Hetemaj, 65) 9. Njazi Kuqi (for Kasper Hämäläinen, 78)	Substitutions: 8. Mathieu Valbuena (for Jérémy Menez, 62) 12. Blaise Matuidi (for Yohan Cabaye, 73) 18. Bafétimbi Gomis (for Franck Ribery, 88)

Reaction

I asked Paatelainen what Finland need to do to turn their good performances into wins. He asserted, “we will win matches in this group. We created more chances than France, which is a credit to our players. I think it’s better to play attacking football than defend all the time. We’re slowly improving as a team, but tonight was the difference between the elite and non-elite countries.”

Paatelainen had praise for a couple of players: “Hämäläinen is a fast, direct player who got into lots of good positions tonight before he picked up a slight thigh injury. Alexei Eremenko Jr was excellent when he came on, but he hadn’t been playing enough recently to start the match.”

Finally, he commented on the impressive attendance, which stood at 35 111, only a few hundred short of capacity: “I have to thank the fans, who gave support from the start to the finish. It’s good to play matches at the Olympic Stadium when it’s full.”

He was right; the atmosphere was very good. I’ve never heard the stadium louder, at least. The hope that accompanies a new qualifying campaign and extensive advertising by the football association were contributing factors, but there were also signs of a developing football culture that is so often discussed in Finland. It felt like half of Helsinki was involved – even the driver of the bus that I took from my home to the centre of the city asked if I was going to the match. It remains to be seen how many fans will turn up to watch Finland play against some of the less glamorous teams in the group, particularly once their hopes of qualifying have disappeared.

And disappear they will, sadly. Finland would not have expected to gain anything from the match tonight, but for them to entertain any hope of finishing in the top two of a group which also contains the reigning world champions Spain, they needed to at least draw with France. Perhaps they deserved to, and perhaps they would have done if they had been able to bring a top-class striker off the bench (no disrespect to Njazi Kuqi). International football means working with whatever is available, though, and today France just had a lot more talent available to them than Finland.

Finland’s 2014 World Cup qualifying campaign gets under way on Friday night with the visit of a far more accomplished and decorated team: France. The two-time European champions and 1998 World Cup winners will be guided by Didier Deschamps in a competitive match for the first time, Laurent Blanc leaving the team after an underwhelming performance at the 2012 European Championships in Poland and Ukraine.

France, despite having an extremely talented set of players, haven’t been able to put together consistently good performances, particularly at recent major championships. That will give Finland hope, though it would be a major upset were they to beat France. A draw would also be a significant achievement. Mixu Paatelainen is normally a very attack-minded coach, but the presence of only two out-and-out strikers in Finland’s squad suggests even he may apply a more conservative approach against technically superior opponents.

The current world rankings appear a little unfair on both teams. France are 15th – compare that to England in 3rd place, who they outplayed and were unlucky to only draw with at Euro 2012 – while Finland are all the way down in 96th. The reason for Finland’s lowly ranking is that FIFA stripped the points they had accumulated at this year’s Baltic Cup because the fourth officials at the matches of that tournament did not have the proper FIFA accreditation. Nevertheless, it shows the gulf between the teams, on paper at least.

Finland have a disastrous record against France. The two teams have played each other six times and Finland have lost six times, most recently in a friendly in Helsinki in 1998. Some of the players from that meeting will be taking part in the Respect match on Saturday afternoon.

The Finland squad is listed below. Clubs are from Finland unless otherwise stated.

Goalkeepers
Lukas Hradecky, Esbjerg fB (Denmark)
Niki Mäenpää, VVV Venlo (Netherlands)
Henri Sillanpää, GAIS Göteborg (Sweden)

Defenders
Paulus Arajuuri, Kalmar FF (Sweden)
Kari Arkivuo, BK Häcken (Sweden)
Markus Halsti, Malmö FF (Sweden)
Niklas Moisander, AFC Ajax (Netherlands)
Juhani Ojala, BSC Young Boys (Switzerland)
Petri Pasanen, AGF Aarhus (Denmark)
Jukka Raitala, SC Heerenveen (Netherlands)
Joona Toivio, Djurgårdens IF (Sweden)
Jere Uronen, Helsingborgs IF (Sweden) *

Midfielders
Alexei Eremenko Jr, FC Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Roman Eremenko, FC Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Tim Sparv, FC Groningen (Netherlands)
Perparim Hetemaj, AC Chievo Verona (Italy)
Kasper Hämäläinen, Djurgårdens IF (Sweden)
Toni Kolehmainen, TPS
Alexander Ring, VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (Germany)
Riku Riski, Hønefoss BK (Norway) *
Daniel Sjölund, Djurgårdens IF (Sweden)
Mika Väyrynen, HJK

Strikers
Njazi Kuqi, Atromitos FC (Greece)
Teemu Pukki, FC Schalke 04 (Germany)

* Withdrawn from the squad due to injury. Niki Mäenpää’s participation is also in doubt.

The only big names missing from Finland’s squad are their first-choice goalkeeper Otto Fredrikson and the Inter midfielder/forward Mika Ojala, who has played less than two full matches since missing a month due to injury. Otherwise Mixu Paatelainen has a full-strength set of players to choose from. His assistant Markku Kanerva has suggested there will be changes from the Northern Ireland friendly, but declined to mention any specific names.

France’s squad list is available on their football association’s website (in French).

The full match will be televised in Finland on YLE TV2, with coverage starting at 21:00, half an hour before kick-off, and a five-minute break for news at half-time. YLE will also stream the match on their Areena service for viewers in Finland. Goals, cards and other major incidents will also be live-Tweeted from the stadium on the Frozen Pitch Twitter page.

Finland suffered a very shaky start, conceding two goals inside the opening twenty minutes through defensive errors. The first was a great strike from Shane Ferguson on the edge of the area, his left-foot connecting sweetly with the bouncing ball. Finland’s goalkeeper Niki Mäenpää could not be faulted, but his defenders should have closed down Ferguson to prevent him from having the time to take a touch and get his shot away after the ball had fallen loose. The second goal was worse, especially for Joona Toivio, who suffered his worst 90 minutes in a Finland shirt. Dean Shiels crossed a fairly innocuous-looking ball from the right-side byline, and Toivio was too slow to react to it, allowing Kyle Lafferty to get in front of him and slot it home.

To Finland’s credit, they didn’t allow their heads to drop at that point, and it was only a matter of minutes before they were back in the game. First, Kari Arkivuo found some space on the right to send in a cross, which Tim Sparv met with a fantastic header, at full stretch, to score his first international goal. Shortly afterwards, it was Northern Ireland’s turn to employ some suicidal defending, as Chris Brunt’s attempted backpass went straight to Teemu Pukki, who slotted the ball in off the post for one of the easiest goals he will score for Finland.

Pukki was substituted at half time as a precaution for a knock he had picked up in the first half, replaced by Riku Riski. Chris Brunt was also taken off by the home side, although probably for a different reason.

Finland were impressive in the second half, with both Eremenko brothers dictating play from the midfield for about 25 minutes, until Alexei was taken off for Perparim Hetemaj. It was Hetemaj who put Finland in the lead for the first time in the match with a rocket of a free kick from the edge of Northern Ireland’s penalty area. It was one of the most technically accomplished goals by a Finnish player in the time in recent memory.

The match referee denied Finland a chance to extend their lead when he declined to award a penalty for a clear handball in Northern Ireland’s penalty area, and he went on to double Finland’s misery by awarding a penalty against them at the other end of the pitch a few minutes later. Joona Toivio was the culprit again, needlessly pulling the shirt of Martin Paterson and inviting the forward to fall over in the box. Paterson would not have reached the ball he was chasing regardless, and he certainly fell over dramatically, but Toivio should not have given the referee the opportunity to make the decision of awarding a penalty. Paterson himself converted it to make it 3-3, which turned out to be the final scoreline.

I suspect both sides will be reasonably happy with the result. Michael O’Neill avoided defeat for the first time in his reign, while Mixu Paatelainen’s team extended their unbeaten streak to four matches, all of them friendlies. After being two goals up inside twenty minutes, Northern Ireland would have expected to go on to win the match, but so would have Finland after taking a deserved 2-3 lead in the second half. It was clear that both teams had set their teams up to attack, and it was the fans who benefited from that shared mentality.

Finland will also be pleased to have scored three goals, as goalscoring was a major problem for them during the Euro 2012 qualifiers. Teemu Pukki now has two to his name after going eleven matches without scoring, while Tim Sparv demonstrated his aerial prowess and Hetemaj made a claim to become the team’s free kick specialist. There were solid performances from a couple of Finland’s more inexperienced players as well, such as Toni Kolehmainen. The worrying aspect of Finland’s performance was undoubtedly their defending, but that was perhaps to be expected given the string of defenders (and goalkeepers) who were unavailable through injury. All in all, a good night’s work.

Finland travel to play Northern Ireland in a friendly on Wednesday which will be both countries’ last chance to prepare for their forthcoming 2014 World Cup qualifying campaigns. The hosts will be looking to end a run of six straight defeats in all competitions, the last of which was a 6-0 drubbing at the hands of the Netherlands in only Michael O’Neill’s second match in charge of the team. Finland, meanwhile, will seek to extend a three-match unbeaten streak.

That form means that Northern Ireland are slight underdogs going into this match, despite their home advantage. That is also reflected by their FIFA ranking of 101st, 29 places behind Finland in 72nd.

There have been six previous meetings between the two teams, and they’ve been split down the middle, with three wins apiece. Their last encounter was also a friendly, played six years ago in Helsinki, which Northern Ireland won by two goals to one.

The Finland squad is listed below. Clubs are from Finland unless otherwise stated.

Goalkeepers
Niki Mäenpää, VVV Venlo (Netherlands)
Henri Sillanpää, GAIS Göteborg (Sweden)

Defenders
Joona Toivio, Djurgårdens IF (Sweden)
Markus Halsti, Malmö FF (Sweden)
Niklas Moisander, AZ Alkmaar (Netherlands)
Paulus Arajuuri, Kalmar FF (Sweden) *
Jere Uronen, Helsingborgs IF (Sweden)
Jukka Raitala, SC Heerenveen (Netherlands) *
Kari Arkivuo, BK Häcken (Sweden)
Juhani Ojala, BSC Young Boys (Switzerland)

Midfielders
Kasper Hämäläinen, Djurgårdens IF (Sweden)
Daniel Sjölund, Djurgårdens IF (Sweden)
Tim Sparv, FC Groningen (Netherlands)
Toni Kolehmainen, TPS
Roni Porokara, KFC Germinal Beerschot (Belgium)
Alexei Eremenko jr, FC Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Roman Eremenko, FC Rubin Kazan (Russia)
Mika Väyrynen, HJK
Perparim Hetemaj, AC Chievo Verona (Italy)
Riku Riski, Hønefoss BK (Norway)

Strikers
Njazi Kuqi, Atromitos FC (Greece)
Teemu Pukki, FC Schalke 04 (Germany)
Timo Furuholm, Fortuna Düsseldorf (Germany)

* Withdrawn from the squad. See the update below.

There are a few notable absences missing from that list. Injuries have kept two goalkeepers, Otto Fredrikson and Lukas Hradecky, out of the squad, opening the door for Niki Mäenpää to get some playing time. Alexander Ring is also injured, as is Mika Ojala, who has been in excellent form in the Veikkausliiga this season. Petri Pasanen has been omitted to give him time to settle in with his new club, AGF Aarhus of Denmark, for whom he signed this summer. Despite all of that, Mixu Paatelainen should be able to field at least half a dozen of his first-choice players alongside a handful of less experienced ones.

The match will be televised in Finland on YLE TV2 from 22:10 onwards. That’s 25 minutes after kick-off, which is disappointing, but it could be worse; away friendlies often aren’t shown at all here. Thankfully, full broadcasts will resume for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers.

Update

Since this article was published, Jukka Raitala and Paulus Arajuuri have both withdrawn from the squad through groin injuries picked up while playing for their respective clubs at the weekend. Paatelainen has decided not to call up any replacements, as could be expected for a friendly, but it leaves him somewhat short of defensive options, particularly as Petri Pasanen is also outside of the squad.