Finland 0 Serbia 2: Disappointing in the extreme
Finnish hopes of EURO 2008 qualification now more theoretical than real
By William Moore
In blazing evening sunshine and in front of an expectant sell-out crowd, with only those seats reserved for the travelling fans gaping empty, Finland produced one of their most anaemic and aimless performances of the modern era and went down deservedly by 2-0 to Serbia in Saturday's UEFA EURO 2008 qualifier.
If this was a English red-top newspaper, the headline above would have been something rather catchier, like the awful "Totally Finnished" or "Serbs Them Right". Basically this would have been a better choice of phrase, too, even if the disappointment among the 33,000 fans was palpable.
The damage was done after only 3 minutes, when Bosko Jankovic volleyed home a great cross from the left by Ivica Dragutinovic, after the Serbs had opened up the Finnish defence like a tin of sardines.
One attack, one shot, one goal. Admirable. Why can't our lot do that?
The second goal came a few minutes from the end of normal time, and really only served to assist the stewards in emptying the stadium slightly early: the match was lost long before Danko Lazovic flicked on for fellow-substitute Milan Jovanovic, who turned on the edge of the box, beat Hannu Tihinen, and drilled the ball smartly past Jussi Jääskeläinen in the Finnish goal.
After the lightning opening to the game, the Finns were bound to be playing catch-up against a disciplined and occasionally rather talented Serbian side, who went about their business as though they actually meant to win the game. The same could not be said for the hosts, unfortunately.
It is not hard to detail what went wrong for the Finns in a match they really had to win in order to keep alive any hopes of qualifying for the European Championships finals: after succumbing to an early sucker punch, they had nothing at all to offer by way of a scoring threat, apart from long balls lobbed forwards hopefully towards Shefki Kuqi and Mikael Forssell.
This tactic was applied with such dogged frequency that one began to imagine that it really was coach Roy Hodgson's master-plan, rather than the inability of the Finnish midfielders to do anything constructive with the ball on the floor.
Needless to say, with neither Kuqi nor Forssell being particularly sharp owing to lack of regular match practice in England, the Serb defenders - well marshalled by Manchester United's Nemanja Vidic - had no trouble at all in snuffing out any possible threats in the air.
And there were no other threats, since the cruel truth is that apart from a few set pieces and corners, a Finnish goal looked about as likely as a dump of snow from a clear blue June sky.
Finland lost Teemu Tainio to an apparent knee injury* after around 20 minutes, and he was replaced by Joonas Kolkka. After Tainio's departure, Mika Väyrynen took more of a central role in midfield, but there was little improvement to be seen. Previously Väyrynen and Tainio had been playing wide, and clearly Markus Heikkinen and Jari Ilola were not quite up to the task of delivering penetrating passes to the strikers.
The defence looked solid enough for the most part, though those around this writer in the crowd commented that had it been Holland and not Serbia out there, the scoreline by half-time would have been a good deal uglier than it was.
Hope springs eternal, and there were hopes that the second half would see the hosts galvanised into action.
Sadly, it did not.
Whilst they made a bit more of a fist of things, the main events of note were not so much Finland's improved penetration or more accurate passing as the introduction of Jari Litmanen (to rapturous applause amid expectations that he would be a miracle-worker) after 70 minutes, and the radical adjustment of the Finnish line-up such that captain and central defender Sami Hyypiä left Markus Heikkinen in charge at the back and went up front himself. "Kewl! It's PlayStation football!" said one wag in the crowd.
As it happens, it wasn't such a bad idea. Hyypiä probably won more in the air than either of the two strikers in the first half, but there was nobody there to run on to anything and create chances. Equally, it probably says quite a lot about the fearsome firepower of the Finnish strikers when a 33-year-old central defender doesn't look out of place doing their job.
The nearest the Finns came to scoring was, predictably, from a set-piece, when Hannu Tihinen's header grazed the bar after a corner.
The downsides of Hodgson's bold move were twofold. Firstly it rather opened up the middle of the park for the Serbs to build attacks on the break, and secondly, Hyypiä managed to get himself a yellow card for a rash late tackle on Nenad Kovacevic in the centre circle, and as a result he will be unavailable for next Wednesday's match against Belgium.
The mood among the spectators drifting out of the Olympic Stadium after the contest (all except the hundred or so Serb fans with their "Kosovo Is Serbia" banner, that is) was depressed and resigned.
Finland's chances of qualifying for the EURO 2008 finals are now wafer-thin, and will depend on some unlikely victories in Lisbon, Brussels, and Belgrade.
Without a more structured Finnish game-plan and more reliable control in midfield, the chances are that the Serbs and the Portuguese will not be losing sleep about having to face the blue-and-whites again.
The visit of Belgium on Wednesday evening will offer a chance for the Finnish squad to recover a little lost self-respect and a win would give the crestfallen fans something to shout about, but even that is hardly likely to keep the dream alive, especially since Saturday's other games provided no helpful upsets.
Poland, the group leaders, went a goal down to Azerbaijan in Baku, but bounced back to win 3-1. Portugal travelled to Belgium and came back with three points from a 2-1 win.
Hence the main rivals in Group A all made ground, leaving Finland adrift and alone in 4th spot in the group, three points behind Portugal and Serbia, and eight behind Poland, who have played a game more.
The way Poland are playing these days, their visit to Helsinki in September does not look like being anything like as easy as Finland's first match in this group, when they beat the Poles 3-1 away.
And by that time it may all be academic anyway.
The defeat inevitably brought a torrent of criticism for the British-born coach Roy Hodgson, who had earlier enjoyed widespread media and public support after some good results.
Now after defeats to Azerbaijan and Serbia the vultures are gathering, although as one Helsingin Sanomat writer noted on Monday, nothing fundamental has changed: in order to compete at the level the home fans would like, Finland needs a full squad of players at the top of their game, getting regular football with their respective clubs and playing their socks off for ninety minutes. None of the above are negotiable, and none of them came to pass on Saturday.
* Teemu Tainio suffered damage to a knee ligament. Scans will show the full extent of the problem, but he is likely to be out of action for four to six weeks, which means he is a definite non-starter for the Belgium game, along with the suspended Sami Hyypiä. Tainio, whose season with Tottenham was affected by injuries, and who missed Finland's last four internationals, should be fit again by the time the English Premiership gets going in August. Alexei Eremenko is likely to make a return to the Finnish side for the Belgium match: he was ruled out against Serbia after collecting two yellow cards in earlier games. Since the problems on Saturday steemed largely from an inability to connect between midfield and the front two, the young Eremenko will have a heavy responsibility on his shoulders on Wednesday.
Links:
UEFA Finland 0 Serbia 2
Helsingin Sanomat
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| 4.6.2007 - TODAY |
Finland 0 Serbia 2: Disappointing in the extreme
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