England end Finnish women's involvement in Euro 2009

Score exactly the same as four years ago, but outcome rather different

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Finland's women footballers were knocked out of the UEFA European Championships at the quarter-final stage on Thursday afternoon.
      The match in Turku ended 3-2 to England, and the victors will go on to meet Holland in the semi-final, after the Dutch side eventually overcame France in a match that went to penalties when full time and extra time remained goalless.
      Finnish coach Michael Käld admitted that it was a bitter blow to be eliminated at this stage, but at the same time acknowledged that the team had made one or two fatal mistakes in Thursday's game.
     
Eniola Aluko put England ahead after 14 minutes and Fara Williams doubled the lead shortly after half-time.
      Annica Sjölund pulled a goal back for the hosts after 66 minutes, but within a minute it was 3-1 as Aluko dribbled around two or three Finnish defenders before crowning a sparkling performance with her second goal of the match and her third of the tournament.
      The Finns did not surrender easily, however, and Linda Sallström headed a second goal to offer a lifeline with around ten minutes of normal time remaining.
     
However, no further goals were forthcoming, and so the hosts are out and England - who made a rather shaky start to the tournament when they lost their opener to Italy - are into the last four, and have a better than even chance of going one better.
      Holland will have to up their performance quite a bit to earn themselves a place in the final.
     
The Finns were let down on Thursday above all by some loose passing, although in fairness England dominated the first half and created more than enough chances to have put the match to bed by the interval.
      The English showing was all the more impressive for the fact that they lost their talismanic captain Faye White after just over half an hour.
      The score in the end was exactly the same as that when the two teams met in Euro 2005, when England were the hosts. On that occasion, despite their losing on the day it was the Finns who progressed from the group while England were eliminated.
     
The Finnish women must have known they were up against it as soon as the quarter-final draw became clear.
      England are a great deal better team than their 3rd-place position in their group would suggest, and it may well be that the Finnish group of Denmark, Holland and Ukraine was not as strong as England's, which also included Sweden (one of the tournament favourites), Italy, and Russia.
      England and Finland have met nine times in the past, and the Finns have yet to record a single win.
     
Germany play Italy in the third quarter-final on Friday afternoon and Sweden meet Norway in the later game on Friday.
      The winners of these two matches - with Sweden and the reigning European Champions Germany both strong favourites - will then meet in the semi-final, although many might suggest this game will be a moral final.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish women slip up in irrelevant match with Ukraine (31.8.2009)
  EURO 2009: Finland overcome Holland to win group (27.8.2009)

Links:
  UEFA

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