Finland 0 Russia 3 - "Déjà vu all over again"

Anaemic Finns given a deserved second hiding by Hiddink's men

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By William Moore
     
      Really, the less said about this match the better, so I'll try to be brief.
      The stadium was full, the rain held off - in fact it was a lovely evening - and the Russian fans waved flags and shouted a lot, in part because there were thousands and thousands of them, and not just in the away supporters' enclosure.
     
Perhaps the presence of so many travelling fans made the Finnish players think they were back in Moscow, experiencing a ghastly Groundhog Day repeat of the first encounter between the two sides.
      Who knows, but for some odd reason they were anaemic almost from the start, and only in the last quarter of an hour of the first half did they come anywhere close to posing a threat to a disciplined Russian defence, or look like they could cope with the speed, deft passing, and ball skills of the visitors' midfield and forwards.
     
It is probably wrong to single out any individuals, but Toni Kallio will certainly wish to forget this game every bit as much as any of the other home players.
      Jari Litmanen looked sluggish and got little change out of the Russian midfield, and was eclipsed on the night by the young pretender Roman Eremenko, who was in all honesty the only Finnish representative who might have got a place in the Russian squad on merit.
      The defence was always vulnerable to the nippy Russian strikers, marshalled admirably by Andrei Arshavin, and when the Finns did manage to hoof the ball up to him, Mikael Forssell was woefully alone and also did not really get much contact on anything sent his way in the air.
      Jonatan Johansson never looked like adding to his tally of goals, even though he was the one who came closest to scoring - with a prodded shot straight at Russian keeper Igor Akinfeev, who gratefully swallowed it whole.
     
All the talk before the game had been that if Finland could just hold out for half an hour or so, we might have a match of it.
      They fell a couple of minutes short. Arshavin did a bit of cleverness with a lob over the two centrral defenders to find Alexander Kerzhakov free on the edge of the box, and the Moscow Dynamo striker - making his first appearance in the side in 18 months - homed in on goal and left Jussi Jääskeläinen no chance.
      Then came the period when Finland should have scored if they were going to make a fist of it, as the Russians took their foot off the gas briefly.
      Since nothing came of this except a couple of wasted corners and Johansson's little prod, the Russians were able to go in ahead at half-time and were probably ordered by coach Guus Hiddink to buck their ideas up.
     
They came out for the second half in more determined mood, and on 53 minutes Kerzhakov popped up to knock in the rebound after Vladimir Bistrov had nutmegged Toni Kallio and Hannu Tihinen and forced Jääskeläinen into a desperate block.
      That basically wrapped it up as a footballing spectacle, though there was plenty to watch in the stands, as the massed Russian fans on the South Bank let off several fireworks and danced topless. Probably only the men, mind you.
      It says something of the mood by this stage that one actually wanted them to set off more illegal pyrotechnics in the forlorn hope that the match would be abandoned by the officials - sanctions from FIFA were about the only way Finland would have got close to any points.
     
A third goal on 71 minutes just underlined the difference in class between the two sides.
      For the record, it was scored by Konstantin Zyryanov, who was the last link in a very brisk Russian counter-attack that unpicked the right-hand side of the home defence and allowed him to gallop forward after another rather hapless Finnish foray upfield. He rounded Sami Hyypiä and whacked the ball high into the net.
      The rest of the game was really about running down the clock, though substitutes Teemu Tainio and Joonas Kolkka tried to look busy, and 23-year-old Niklas Moisander - who had come on for Kallio moments after the second goal - put in a solid performance at left-back.
      Moisander showed glimpses that he might be a useful addition when the team undergoes the change of generation that is inevitable, and which is looming ever larger now that this World Cup campaign is well and truly in the dustbin.
      Captain Sami Hyypiä hinted (not for the first time) that he might hang up his international boots quite soon, and that this humiliating defeat - which clearly hurt him and others and also left coach Stuart Baxter fuming - could have been his last home appearance in a Finnish shirt.
     
That "dustbin" remark might seem harsh, but in order for the Finns to have any real hope of qualifying, a Russian side that was streets ahead of it tonight and when they met last October, scoring six goals without reply, will have to suffer some utterly dire results in the months ahead.
      The Finns are now five points adrift of second place with only four matches left. Three of them are away games, and one is away to Germany. Enough said, probably.
      Actually, the Russians could even dent Germany's hopes of winning the group and an automatic qualifying place - it is by no means a foregone conclusion that the Germans will take any points away from their visit to Moscow in October.
     
This turn of events might be Finland's one thin straw to clutch at: if Germany stumble away to Azerbaijan and Russia, and if Finland's next three games - away to Liechtenstein and Azerbaijan, and home to Wales - go as intended, there just might be something to play for in the last game in Germany.
      However, Hyypiä seemed sceptical, and he probably knows what he is talking about.
     
Hyypiä may well also not be alone in his thoughts of retirement from international duty, and there is one school of thought that believes now would indeed be a good moment for Baxter to blood new players, when there is arguably little at stake any more, thereby shifting the focus to the longer term.
      Finland's Under-21 side will be in action shortly in the European Championships in Sweden, and the experience is bound to benefit and bring on the younger lads.
      Let's hope the juniors have a good tournament.
     
The second defeat to Russia may bring calls for Stuart Baxter's head on a platter, but in all honesty a coach can only do so much with the material at his disposal. Would Finland have got any closer with a Hiddink in charge?
      Tonight Baxter's team did not really show up, and even if they had, Russia are not ranked 9th in the world for nothing.
      The speed with which they move from defence to attack was always going to be a huge threat, and the lack of fight offered by the home side only made things easier for them.
      Maybe Baxter has to shake things up a bit. Even at the back - the Finnish defence has after all shipped nine goals against good opposition in this campaign, after looking quite solid in the Euro 2008 qualifiers.
     
The atmosphere in the Olympic Stadium was excellent, with a genuine big-match feel to it, though inevitably the non-hardcore Finnish fans lost their sparkle and their voice a bit when the goals started going in at the wrong end.
      The Official Supporters' Club on the North Bank did their best to keep things on the boil, but the Russians - and there really WERE a hell of a lot of them present, all over the stadium - naturally had a lot more to sing about.
      As a minus, one does have to question the wisdom of the fans' chorusmasters in getting them to sing about "Going to Africa with Baxter" over the last 20 minutes, when the team is three down and hung out to dry.
     
About ten minutes before full-time, a very large detachment of riot police marched into the arena and took up a position in front of the travelling fans, and the presence of a Border Guard helicopter buzzing overhead before the game and even during it added to the sense that this was all a bit special.
      It's just a crying shame nobody told the Finnish players.
     

Finland: Jussi Jääskeläinen; Petri Pasanen, Hannu Tihinen (40. booked), Sami Hyypiä (captain), Toni Kallio (9. booked, 54. Niklas Moisander); Jonatan Johansson, Markus Heikkinen, Roman Eremenko (73. booked), Aleksei Eremenko Jr. (61. Joonas Kolkka), Jari Litmanen (69. Teemu Tainio); Mikael Forssell.
Substitutes not used: Otto Fredrikson, Veli Lampi, Roni Porokara, Berat Sadik.
Coach: Stuart Baxter (England)
     
Russia: Igor Akinfeev; Denis Kolodin, Sergei Ignashevich, Vasili Berezutsky, Yuri Zhirkov; Vladimir Bystrov (77. Sergei Semak), Igor Denisov, Igor Semshov, Konstantin Zyryanov; Andrei Arshavin (captain); Alexander Kerzhakov (67. Roman Pavlyuchenko).
Substitutes not used: Vladimir Gabulov, Evgeni Aldonin, Alexei Berezutsky, Renat Yanbaev, Pavel Pogrebnyak.
Coach: Guus Hiddink (Netherlands)
     
Goals: 26. Alexander Kerzhakov (0-1); 53. Kerzhakov (0-2); 71. Konstantin Zyryanov (0-3).
Referee: Konrad Plautz (Austria).
Attendance: 37,023 (capacity)
Weather: Very pleasant, much better than forecast. Sunny 17°C, clouding over at the end.

More on this subject:
 A full house in prospect for arrival of Russia
 Fans clash in the streets before game

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland 2 Liechtenstein 1 (UEFA World Cup Qualification Group 4) (8.6.2009)
  Russia 3 Finland 0: On their knees in Moscow (16.10.2008)

See also:
  Big Russian contingent anticipated for World Cup qualifier in Helsinki (2.6.2009)

Links:
  Finland National Football Team (Wikipedia)
  FIFA

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