Finland's road to Euro 2008

[mac3]

Well I know this can be posted to Finnish NT thread, but I decided to do own thread to this.

Finlands qualifying matches:

Poland 1-3 Finland (Gargula 89 - Litmanen 54, 79(pen), Väyrynen 84)
Finland 1-1 Portugal (Johansson 22 - Nuno Gomes 42)
Armenia 0-0 Finland
Kazakhstan 0-2 Finland (Litmanen 27, Hyypiä 65)
Finland 1-0 Armenia (Nurmela 10)
Azerbaijan 1-0 Finland (Imamaliev 82)
Finland 0-2 Serbia (Jankovic 3, Jovanovic 86)
Finland 2-0 Belgium (Johansson 27, Eremenko Jr. 71)
Finland - Kazakhstan
Serbia - Finland
Finland - Poland
Belgium - Finland
Finland - Azerbaijan
Portugal - Finland

Group A right now:

Poland 9 19
Serbia 7 14
________________________
Portugal 7 14
Finland 8 14
Belgium 8 7
Armenia 7 7
Kazakhstan 8 6
Azerbaijan 8 5


We have done great victory over Poland, nice draw against Portugal, stunning defeat against Azerbaijan and draw against Armenia. Now me must to focus to the future. I have already tickets to Serbia and Belgium home matches, I will buy tickets to Poland home match and I am perhaps going to Portugal to watch Portugal - Finland. :)

[benfica64]

My advice is you really should go to Portugal not only to watch the match but Iam sure you will enjoy your stay there. The people are very friendly and helpful, usualy great weather and amasing natural wonder's to be seen. Good food, great Wine:) :) and overall Portuguese people always lend a hand and make feel very welcome those who come and visit. Cheers!

P.S and the Women!! Good lord boy you Haven't seen nada until you been there. I just hope your heart hold's up :-)

[Vic]

Wish you the best Mac, i really hope you advance to the Event in Swiss/Austria. i'd be fantastic for Finnish football and increase the popularity in Finland.

It will be a tough and very important game against Serbia. Hope you beat them, good luck Mac! :)

[Port Wine]

Wish you the best Mac, i really hope you advance to the Event in Swiss/Austria. i'd be fantastic for Finnish football and increase the popularity in Finland.

It will be a tough and very important game against Serbia. Hope you beat them, good luck Mac! :)
Yeah, I'd like to see Portugal and Finland advancing. It would be great to see Finland in Euro 2008 cause football isn't the main sport in that country. If they make it, I think it would do wonders to boost the popularity of the sport in Finland.

Nice to see the Scandinavian board active. Well done. :thumbsup:

[mac3]

This is Finland's squad against Serbia and Belgium:

Goalkeepers:
Jussi Jääskeläinen, Bolton - 34 caps / 0 goals
Peter Enckelman, Blackburn - 7 / 0
Magnus Bahne, Halmstad - 2 / 0

Defenders:
Sami Hyypiä, Liverpool - 82 / 5
Hannu Tihinen, FC Zürich - 55 / 4
Petri Pasanen, Werder Bremen - 36 / 1
Toni Kallio, BSC Young Boys - 28 / 1
Toni Kuivasto, Djurgården - 66 / 1
Veli Lampi, FC Zürich - 3 / 0
Ari Nyman, FC Thun - 13 / 0
Hannu Patronen, Honka - 0 / 0

Midfielders/strikers:
Jari Litmanen, Malmö FF - 107 / 28
Teemu Tainio, Tottenham - 35 / 5
Joonas Kolkka, Feyenoord - 75 / 11
Jari Ilola, IF Elfsborg - 28 / 1
Markus Heikkinen, Luton Town - 27 / 0
Mika Väyrynen, PSV Eindhoven - 27 / 2
Mika Nurmela, HJK - 66 / 4
Peter Kopteff, FC Utrecht - 39 / 1
Alexei Eremenko jr, FC Saturn - 27 / 10
Roman Eremenko, AC Siena - 0 / 0
Mikael Forssell, Birmingham - 45 / 16
Jonatan Johansson, Malmö FF - 76 / 13
Shefki Kuqi, Crystal Palace- 48 / 5

[myggan]

I don´t think Jari Litmanen will play the coming game against Azerbadjan.
He has been away from the club-fotball for a long time, though he loves to play more for his national team that for the club (Malmoe FF).

[mac3]

Our next game is against Serbia, not Azerbaijan. :)

Litmanen has been injured, and I'm sure he's not in starting eleven.

[myggan]

I see. I was convinced that they should play against Azerbaijan but I was wrong.

Do you know the startup team that Finland will play with?

[mac3]

Nope, but Litmanen has just recovered from his injury so he isn't in the starting 11. It can be something like this:

Jääskeläinen; Pasanen, Hyypiä, Tihinen, Kallio; Kolkka, Tainio, Väyrynen, Heikkinen, A. Eremenko; Johansson/Forssell

it can be also 4-4-2.

[mac3]

Ok. First I will comment this game. This wasn't Hodgson's fault like Azerbaijan defeat, but he made ONE mistake. I was in Olympiastadion watching that game. I saw Finland was using zonal marking. Serbia's players were fast and skillful, especially in midfield. So with zonal marking we gave them loads of space to run and then pass or go for a goal. Against so fast and skillful players, we should use man marking. We have a lot of good players for that, like Hyypiä, Tihinen, Pasanen, Heikkinen, Tainio... it was a big mistake to use zonal marking against Serbia. I hope Hodgson noticed that too. Sami Hyypiä was our best player. He was confident with ball and without it. He did some amazing headers and won almost all of his many header fights. Of course it would be more difficult if suspended Zigic would have played, but it's still a great game for Liverpool's defender. Also his long passes were good. Our midfield weakened a lot when Teemu Tainio was substituted (injury). When Jari Litmanen came on in the final moments of the second half, he was excellent and did many good dribbles and passes. Unfortunately, it was too late to save Finland. Our attack was poor, Mikael Forssell was bad (looks like he has lost all of his speed because of those many injuries) and Hodgson's tactic didn't fit for Shefki Kuqi. When Jonatan Johansson came on, attack pulled up a level, but again - it was too late.

How are the things going before Belgium match? Well, looks like we are in a REALLY big trouble. Teemu Tainio is injured, so he can't play against Belgium. Also, Sami Hyypiä is suspended for reaching yellow card limit. Peter Kopteff is injured too, but Aki Riihilahti will replace him. Tainio and Hyypiä are both very very very important players to Finland, and it would be very hard to play without them, especially against so good team like Belgium. Attacking is also one big problem. I would use Johansson alone as a striker and Litmanen behind him as a lower forward. Same tactic as against Poland and Portugal. Heikkinen is probably replacing Hyypiä, but his long passes are poor compared to Hyypiä's. Also I would use someone else instead of Toni Kallio, looks like he's not in the form right now.

I would use this tactic:

------------------------ Jääskeläinen --------------------

--------- Pasanen -- Tihinen -- Kuivasto -- Nyman -------

--------------- Väyrynen -- Heikkinen ---------
--- A. Eremenko ---------------------------- Kolkka ---

---------------- Litmanen ----------------------------
-------------------------- Johansson --------------

If we are leading and the clock is over 60 minutes, then Litmanen to midfield, Kuqi -> <- Johansson, and Kallio -> <- Kolkka. Also we could try the young players, so in 70th-80th minute Litmanen -> <- R. Eremenko, Kuivasto -> <- Patronen and Nyman -> <- Lampi.

[mac3]

Finland's confirmed starting lineup:

22 Jussi Jääskeläinen
19 Toni Kallio
5 Hannu Tihinen, C
2 Petri Pasanen
28 Ari Nyman
11 Joonas Kolkka
23 Markus Heikkinen
32 Roman Eremenko
6 Mika Väyrynen
20 Alexei Eremenko jr
21 Jonatan Johansson

Roman Eremenko, young player of AC Siena will make his debyt.. this can be very interesting.

[mac3]

Armenia 1-0 Poland. This gives us some breathing space. Thanks Armenia!

[Vic]

How is it with Litmanen, wasn't he playing against Serbia for one half or something like that?

[mac3]

Litmanen came from the bench to play against Serbia at 70th minute. Against Belgium he wasn't in the team.

[Bigpappys_gun]

Good job against Belgium, I really wish that Finland and Serbia will qualify, a lot of games coming up. Its still early to predict who is going to Austria-switzerland

[boris4c]

Good job against Belgium, I really wish that Finland and Serbia will qualify, a lot of games coming up. Its still early to predict who is going to Austria-switzerland
I have already eliminated Finland. The most realistic is Poland and Portugal but I deeply hope Serbia will pull something out. Thanks to Armenia, things look better for us. I still have the feeling the last game (Serbia vs Poland, in Belgrade) will decide who goes home and who doesn't.

[SPM1979]

Hi, if there are any Finnish fans on here who follow football closely in their country I'd like them to get in touch. I'm looking for volunteers to help research for a football simulation game. If you're over 18 and have some free time to devote to this I'd like to hear from you. My e-mail is: StevenM@bgstudios.co.uk