Janne Palomäki
Helmarien must aim for the playoffs in the European Championships in Switzerland, writes Janne Palomäki
Linda Sällström’s long national team career will probably end at the European Championships in 2025. PDO
Helmarit is now playing in the EC final tournament for the fifth time in its history.
According to the latest Uefa ranking, the national team is the 13th best soccer team on the continent, so its place in Switzerland in the 16-team European Championships cannot be considered a surprise.
In fact, it is the minimum requirement for Finland.
Head coach Marko Saloranna has to move his eyes to the next level. Helmarit didn’t win a single match in England’s final tournament in 2022 or in European Championship Sweden 2013.
In fact, we have to go back 16 years in historybefore Finland left the EC turf as the winner of the match last time.
Even then, the core of the team was formed around the experienced Sanna Valkonen and Laura Österberg Kalmar. However, the tournament also offered Tinja-Riikka Korpela and Linda Sällström, in their twenties, their baptism of fire in EC football.
In the coming summer, Korpela’s and Sällström’s wonderful national team careers will probably end in the alpine scenery. And what would be a better way to celebrate the brilliant football career of two Helmarit icons than to extend the Finnish EC tournament this time to a long playoff stage.
Then even Saloranta could puff out its chest. Helmarie’s place in the quarterfinals would be a really tough achievement.
Everything from then on would mean a full-scale sensation.