Finland 0 Poland 0: a more encouraging showing, but a bitterly disappointing result

Finns now need 110% performances and help from others

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Finland drew 0-0 with Poland in the Olympic Stadium last night. It was probably fair to say neither side deserved to lose, and maybe Finland just about edged it in the "deserved to win" department, but there is no doubt that the Polish visitors will be the ones best pleased with the result.
      The disappointment among the Finnish contingent, in the crowd, on the bench, and on the pitch, was palpable: you do not usually qualify for big tournaments by dropping points at home.
     
The Finns did what they had to do and made a much better fist of attacking the Polish goal, particularly in the second half, when a string of genuine chances were created and went begging. The reasons were many: good goalkeeping, bad luck, bad timing, shoddy finishing, the fortuitous intervention of a Polish face in the path of the ball...
      Both sides hit the post, and both sides could have scored two or three goals in what actually developed into a very open and entertaining game. Or it would have been entertaining if it had not been such a nail-biter for the Finnish fans, with a totally anti-climactic ending.
     
Alexei Eremenko Jr. came closest to scoring for the hosts, but saw his shot graze a post and roll tantalisingly close to the goal line before missing the other post.
      Daniel Sjölund also went close with a firmly hit shot that accidentally clattered into the head of Polish defender Jakub Blaszczykowski, and Hannu Tihinen and second-half substitute Mikael Forssell both had chances that might - on a better day - have been tucked away.
      At the other end, Jussi Jääskeläinen had a fair bit of work to do in the Finnish goal, and was completely beaten on one occasion five minutes from time, but he, too, was rescued by the woodwork.
     
So it ended goalless, for the second time in four days, but under very different circumstances.
      Roy Hodgson can be proud of his charges, but the cruel truth is that it was "a point won" in Belgrade on Saturday, but "two points lost" in Helsinki last night.
      Yes, the dream of qualification for EURO 2008 is still alive, just about, although in medical parlance it would definitely be "giving cause for concern".
     
The problem is that - after a flurry of matches involving the main protagonists in Group A - there are still four teams obstinately chasing just two places in the finals next year.
      Serbia snatched a 1-1 draw away to Portugal last night, thanks to a late-late goal from Branislav Ivanovic. This meant that all four of the "crunch" matches played on the 8th and the 12th (Serbia-Finland, Portugal-Poland; Finland-Poland, Portugal-Serbia) ended in stalemate, with correspondingly no change in the pecking order, no change in the gaps between the teams, nobody "home and dry", and no teams suddenly staring at the abyss.
      Poland still lead, with 21 from 11, two ahead of Finland. Portugal are a further two points adrift but with only ten games played, and Serbia are fourth with 16 points from ten matches.
      Finland's headache, and the real reason why the three points would have been so valuable against the Poles, is that they have a fairly tough run-in ahead of them, and getting points in the bank would have been very welcome, especially points stolen from a direct rival.
     
Finland must play Belgium away in October, and then in November they host Kazakhstan and travel to Lisbon to face Portugal.
      The way things are going for the once-fancied Portuguese, they may also well need every point they can lay their hands on, and it is quite possible that they will not be in a generous mood or in the comfort-zone come November.
      In all probability, the Finns will have to avoid defeat in Lisbon to even have a ghost of a chance of qualifying.
      Poland have home fixtures against Kakakhstan and Belgium, and a trip to Serbia rounds off their campaign. The Poles will doubtless be hoping they can do enough to make that awkward last game irrelevant.
      Portugal and Serbia both have four matches left, two at home and two away, and three of the games are against "minnow" opposition, although we have seen already that the little fish can make a big splash in the group.
     
Realistically, however, Finland have:
      a) the toughest assignment,
      b) the least room for error, and
      c) the greatest need to pray that Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Kazakhstan spring a few more surprises.
      The Finns can score a theoretical maximum of 28 points (though that figure does include a rather improbable win in Portugal and also assumes they beat Belgium in Brussels), while the Poles can get 30 (and can probably expect to get 27), the Portuguese can get 29, and the Serbs 28 points.
     
Bubi the eagle-owl did not show up in the stadium, although he was certainly not forgotten. He was on display in lifesize effigy form among the fans in the B-stand on the South Bank.
      The 32,000 Finns in the stadium were in quite good voice throughout, but were still outsung at times by a couple of thousand Poles who had made the trip. How they manage to sing: "There's only one Jakub Blaszczykowski" is quite beyond the understanding of this writer, but that's what it sounded like.
      The travelling Poles had a large police cordon around their enclosure, but apart from some illegal flares, there did not seem to be much crowd trouble at the match. Referee Herbert Fandel from Germany was at least not assaulted by a rogue fan as he had been in Copenhagen in June.
      We do not know how the Finnish and Polish prime ministers behaved, but presumably they kept things cordial between them in the expensive seats.
     
     
Finland: Jussi Jääskeläinen; Petri Pasanen, Hannu Tihinen, Sami Hyypiä (captain), Toni Kuivasto; Joonas Kolkka, Teemu Tainio, Markus Heikkinen (90. Jarkko Wiss), Daniel Sjölund; Alexei Eremenko (caution, 25.); Jonatan Johansson (72. Mikael Forssell).
     
Coach: Roy Hodgson
     
Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)
     
Attendance: 34,088 (not quite sold out)


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finns must attack in crucial EURO 2008 encounter (12.9.2007)

Links:
  UEFA

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