This is how the Huuhkajat expressed their bitter disappointment in Slovenia – Kanerva told about her night’s sleep

In the capital of Slovenia, the morning dawned quietly and thoughtfully.

Huuhkaji’s massively important European Championship qualifying match turned out to be a cakewalk on Saturday night in Ljubljana.

Disappointment weighed on the striker by Benjamin Källman still in mind.

– We didn’t get what we wanted. Sensing the same feeling from everyone else, Källman, who had just arrived from the punching hall, perked up.

The head coach Markku Kanerva didn’t get a very long night’s sleep after the 0-3 loss.

– However, according to the smart ring, it was a quality dream. Maybe not quite a normal amount of sleep overall.

– 13 players were in training, some were in the gym. Yesterday’s disappointment was felt and it should have been. The most important thing now is to look to the future, Kanerva said.

Word is free

Hope is not lost, but now we have to win. Three more times.

On Tuesday, the silence turns into a screaming storm. The home crowd of the sold-out Helsinki Olympic Stadium expects Huuhkaj above all to wash his face after the trip to Slovenia.

Led by Kanerva, the team analyzed the match against Slovenia on Sunday and at the same time put Kazakhstan on the back burner.

Game things and going through them are of course important. In addition to those, thoughts are also exchanged about feelings in Huuhkajie’s meeting rooms.

Word is free.

– We also discuss the players’ experiences. The players are in the center. We do the work together, so it is important to hear what feelings they left behind.

Finland was in the washing machine, especially in the opening period in Ljubljana. In particular, dismantling the press and opening plays became a problem – they did not succeed at all.

When the short openings didn’t work, they wanted to play the ball high in Slovenia’s half of the field. In those situations, the target man Källman moved into the right intermediate lane pocket.

Källman did win a few push situations, but after that the progress was dull.

– You have to analyze and learn from it. Self-critically, I think that I could do things better. But there were playful things involved. Probably our pack was too loose when we tried to open to the desired spaces.

– The ball was thrown there, but after that we really had no idea what we would do next, Källman reflected.

What does the data say?

Kanerva wanted to highlight statistics.

In the second period, Slovenia retreated and didn’t push too hard from the top anymore. Finland got to build peace. Among other things Teemu Pukki and Daniel Håkans got to the finish line.

The finish settled down.

– In light of the statistics, the game is not a disaster if the opponent has 12 scoring attempts and five shots per goal. We were eight and four. We made mistakes, for which Slovenia punished with a good percentage.

According to the statistical service Opta, Slovenia won the expected goal by 1.62–0.84. Benjamin Šeško the penalty kick increased Slovenia’s score by 0.79.

The statistics don’t warm up if the opening period that decided the loss is miserable. There were still opportunities even in a 0–2 loss situation.

A confusing opponent

Tuesday’s opponent, Kazakhstan, is a confusing team. It is still tied with Finland and has mixed things up throughout the qualifiers.

In Astana, Kazakhstan did not convince against Finland game-wise. Has the team drastically overperformed?

– In the light of the statistics, it is, but yes, they have played well and lost from the previous qualifiers. Especially in his defensive game.

– There is no reason to underestimate them, Kanerva emphasized.

Källman believed that getting a forced profit from mental charging should not be caught.

– It’s really not difficult. After such a disappointment, it comes automatically.

– I want to prove that the performance seen in Slovenia is definitely not our right level.