Haka won in Valkeakoski.
Mixu Paatelainen’s career as HIFK’s head coach started at a loss. Juha Tamminen / AOP
Mixu Paatelainen returned to Veikkausliiga fields on Friday. The fire baptism of HIFK’s new head coach ended in a 1-2 loss against Haka in Valkeakoski.
What made the meeting special was that the Factory Field and Haka are quite familiar to Paatelainen. He played in Haka from 1985-87.
HIFK, which had crashed at the beginning of the season, started briskly. After the corner, the ball bounced to the boundary of the penalty area, from where Wilson Kamavuaka pushed through the post to the net.
Hakan were able to mount several counterattacks, such as the impressive one after 19 minutes, but Jürgen Schneider lofted a free kick over the crossbar. Striker Lee Erwin bombed directly from the free kick into the back corner.
In the second episode, Haka got a better grip on the game. Stavros Zarakostas was released in the 57th minute and struck just five minutes later. Zarakostas cut in the corner of the box and dipped it into the back corner.
HIFK’s renowned veteran guard Beto seemed to be slightly misplaced in the goal of Zarakostas. HIFK still did not crash into his Portuguese fighters. At the end of the second half, Beto stretched his keys several times in the way of Haka’s companies. There were parade rescues among them.
Haka has started his season strongly. It has already scratched nine points out of four matches. HIFK is a league jumbo when after four matches it has only one draw point.
In the second match on Friday, KuPS applied for a score as a guest of FC Lahti. The only goal scored in the match Janis Ikaunieks quarter.