Finland has clearly moved forward in international football, writes Janne Palomäki.
Despite Sweden’s victory, Finland can take solace from the first-timers’ performance. PDO
Estadio Algarve is a great football stadium in the southern tip of Portugal.
Huuhkajat visited there for the last time in the winter of 2009, when a significantly stronger combination jumped onto the turf.
Sami Hyypia, Jari Litmanen, Petri Pasanen, Mikael Forssell and Hannu Tihinen starred in the team, which is aptly called the “golden generation”.
Goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen picked up the ball once from behind his back. It was delivered there by Cristiano Ronaldo.
The stadium wasn’t sold out even then, but of course the audience was significantly more than on Monday, when the substitutes Finland and Sweden clashed.
14 years ago, the Finnish game was led by Stuart Baxter. The era of Skottikouts is not fondly remembered, but in some respects Baxter guided the Huhukjat to the correct flight path.
He kept repeating to the point of boredom that he would like to enter “The Finnish Way”. By the Finnish way of playing, he meant an identity that would be repeated from the age-season national teams all the way to the representative group.
Markku Kanerva sent five first-time players to attack Blågult, and with the changes, the number increased to no less than seven.
Despite that, Finland appeared united on the field. The Finnish debutants were by no means overshadowed by their more experienced colleagues.
It is clear that Finland has found its own way of playing, and the defection from the under-21s to Huuhkaji no longer causes a culture shock.
Both of Sweden’s goals were mainly caused by the Huuhkajat defense messing with both the opponents and the ball.
I hope it doesn’t become part of the “Finnish way of playing”.