Finland 2 Azerbaijan 1 - Onwards to Porto, fingers crossed

Forssell breaks long goal drought and Kuqi bundles in the winner

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By William Moore
     
      Finland went into Saturday evening’s game against Azerbaijan with everything to prove. The Azers had tripped up the Finnish visitors in March, winning 1-0 in Baku for their first (and only) victory of the campaign.
      Finland had also gone an unconscionably long time without scoring, having played out three goalless draws in their most recent Euro 2008 matches.
      And the hosts on Saturday knew that a win in their final home game was the only way to preserve a lifeline for qualification for the Euro 2008 finals in Austria and Switzerland.
     
After a minute’s silence for the victims of the Jokela school shooting and the President of the Azeri Football Association, who died last week, Finland started briskly and the combination of Mikael Forssell and Jonatan Johansson up front, with Joonas Kolkka and Daniel Sjölund playing wide outside them, looked for a way to unpick the visitor’s massed defence.
      The Finns had huge dollops of possession, and yet Farkhad Veliyev was not immediately called upon to perform acrobatic feats in the Azer goal.
      Petri Pasanen blasted a free-kick into the wall for a corner, and Hannu Tihinen had the first of many chances that head coach Roy Hodgson commented on in his post-match remarks, with the British-born coach jocularly observing that his central defender could have been the top scorer in the qualifying group if he’d capitalised on every opportunity that came his way.
     
For around 20 minutes in the middle of the first half, the ball was seldom away from the Azeri end of the field, but on the few occasions when the visitors mustered an attack they looked quite nippy and - perhaps because the Finns had forgotten what defending was all about - they were sometimes allowed to progress rather too far into Finnish territory for comfort.
      When the half-time whistle blew, Finland had nothing to show for their efforts except a string of corners, one decent save forced out of Veliyev from Teemu Tainio, and some bruises from the Azerbaijan defenders, who picked up three yellow cards in quick succession.
      Over coffee and hotdogs, there was an awful sense that this might all go horribly wrong and end up with another 1-0 mugging.
      It was just that sort of match - either the Finns would score an early goal and canter away to a 5-0 win, or they would get frustrated and succumb to a sucker punch on the break.
      And, worryingly, there had been no early goal.
     
After the restart, at least the frustration level was upped appreciably as first Hannu Tihinen (again!) headed against the crossbar after a Sjölund corner, and then Forssell set up Kolkka, but the winger’s flighted shot from the right-hand edge of the box also hit the bar with the goalkeeper well beaten.
      On the hour, the rather thin crowd of 10,000 who had braved the cold erupted in sound as Jari Litmanen was introduced, replacing Johansson.
      The reception was one befitting a returning Messiah, but Litmanen was probably just happy to be playing serious football again after a long layoff, and anyone who expected instant “Just-Add-Litti” miracles from him was asking a lot of the 36-year-old player and his Achilles tendon, which was operated on in the summer. The real wonder was that he was there at all.
     
Litmanen's arrival did not prove to be an immediate turning-point.
      If anything Finland looked a bit disoriented by the change, and the sucker punch came in the form of a sharp Azeri attack down the left.
      A swift exchange of passes on the edge of the box and a slip from Roman Eremenko let in Makhmud Gurbonov, and he lashed the ball across Jussi Jääskeläinen and into the top far corner.
      One serious attack, one shot on target, one goal. There has to be a lesson there somewhere.
     
The crowd couldn’t believe it, and to their great credit they wouldn’t accept that it was all going to go pear-shaped now.
      Rather than the expected stunned silence, the noise level went up a notch or two. They kept faith that after four hours without scoring, and after dominating every aspect of this game, the Finns would somehow do the business.
      The next quarter of an hour was heart-pounding, nail-biting stuff. Forssell was all over his marker like a rash, and he had two or three clear chances on goal, with Finland going forward en masse after Mika Väyrynen came on for Toni Kallio. The quartet of Tainio, Väyrynen, Forssell, and Litmanen - who was now warming to his task and digging up a few of his old skills - has been seen all too rarely of late. They really are quite good, when they put their minds to it.
     
Corner followed corner, and eventually something had to give.
      Eleven minutes from time, a smart cross by Kolkka from the left, nodded down by Hannu Tihinen, proved the key. Mikael Forssell showed his natural goalscorer’s nose and was first to the loose ball, chesting it around the goalkeeper before firing high into the net at the near post.
      This was Forssell’s first goal in a Finnish shirt since March 2006, and Finland’s first strike in these qualifiers since Teemu Tainio’s winner against Kazakhstan in Tampere in August. Three hundred and seventy-eight long minutes.
     
A minute or two later, Roman Eremenko was swapped for the “Kosovar Ox”, Shefki “The Sheriff” Kuqi.
      The big Fulham striker, who has not enjoyed much time on the park in Hodgson’s side, first put the fear of God into the diminutive Azer defenders with his sheer mass, and then bundled the ball into the net with the side of his head after a clever Litmanen free-kick.
      On another night, the referee might have blown up for Kuqi’s goalmouth charge on the keeper, but this time he pointed firmly to the centre-spot, and the recovery was complete.
     
The Olympic Stadium then went as mad as it can go in -3°C and when only one-third filled, and a naughty torch was lit in the D-stand. Tsk, tsk.
      There was one final shock-horror-panic moment in injury time when Azerbaijan put the ball in the net, but the assistant’s flag was rightly up for offside.
     
The relief and delight among the Finnish players was so obvious it was almost touching, and Litmanen - who had relinquished the skipper’s armband in favour of Sami Hyypiä since he only took part as a substitute - reverted to his captain-and-mentor role and ordered those of his colleagues who were heading for the tunnel to come back and applaud the fans for not giving up on them.
      It was a nice gesture, and the shirts thrown into the crowd went to a good home.
      A huge Litmanen flag had been displayed by the hardcore Tifosi before the game, perhaps as a farewell gesture to a very faithful servant to the national team. Litmanen has said he will retire from international duty after Euro 2008, come what may.
     
Everyone except the travelling Azeri supporters went home happy, thinking that at least Finland would have the chance of qualifying if they can beat Portugal on Wednesday.
      This is of course a big ask, but as Roy Hodgson pointed out, Azerbaijan proved it was possible to be completely outplayed over 90 minutes and still come tantalisingly close to winning.
      Could it be Finland’s turn to do the same to Portugal: watch the other side squander a hatful of chances and then do a smash-and-grab with the only one you are offered.
      It’s a nice plan if it works.
     
The evening’s later results panned out much as expected, with one exception caused by climatic factors . Poland beat Belgium 2-0 to guarantee their qualification with one game still to be played, against Serbia in Belgrade. Portugal also stayed firmly in the frame with a 1-0 home win against Armenia.
      The Serbs were due to play Kazakhstan, but the game was postponed because of heavy snow in Belgrade. It was provisionally rescheduled for Sunday afternoon, but the pitch was still covered by 15 cm of snow, and the game was then put back to next Saturday, November 24th.*
     
The situation in Group A is as follows: Poland have 27 points, Portugal 26, Finland 23, and Serbia - with a game in hand on the other three - have 20.
      Poland are through to the finals whatever happens, and will also win the group if they beat the Serbs or alternatively - if Finland win or draw against Portugal - even a crushing defeat in Belgrade will be enough for the Poles to pull off a truly remarkable comeback story.
      It might be worth remembering at this point that Finland’s first action in this Euro 2008 campaign was to inflict a humiliating 3-1 defeat on a woeful Polish side in Bydgoszcz, 14 months ago. That loss was followed by a tame draw at home to Serbia, but thereafter Leo Beenhakker’s men have been as hard as nails, except for one defeat away to Armenia. In fairness, the Armenians have been a tough nut to crack - Finland, Serbia, and Portugal all drew there, and only Belgium managed to bring home three points from Yerevan.
     
Portugal, semifinalists at the 2006 World Cup, still need a draw against Finland to qualify.
      Finland must win that game to have any chance at all, and even then they could get agonisingly pipped at the post by Serbia if the Serbs win both their remaining games.
      Finland’s position is hampered by their defeat at home to Serbia in June. By the same token, a famous victory in Porto would put Finland through against Portugal, even though they have the same number of points and a worse goal difference. The two teams drew 1-1 in Helsinki.
     
The good news is that the Finnish players apparently came through their match on Saturday intact and without any impending suspensions, and Jari Litmanen may well be sharper for the half-hour runaround he had in Helsinki.
      We can but cross our fingers and hope for the best.
      And maybe a little assistance from Poland or Kazakhstan, of the sort Israel gave England by beating Russia. Every little helps.
     
Finland: Jussi Jääskeläinen; Petri Pasanen (booked, 39.), Hannu Tihinen, Sami Hyypiä (captain), Toni Kallio (66. Mika Väyrynen); Joonas Kolkka, Roman Eremenko (80. Shefki Kuqi), Teemu Tainio, Daniel Sjölund; Jonatan Johansson (59. Jari Litmanen), Mikael Forssell.
     
Coach: Roy Hodgson.
     
Referee: Alain Hamer, Luxembourg.
     
Goals: Gurbonov (63, 0-1); Forssell (79, 1-1); Kuqi (86, 2-1).
     
Attendance: 10,325 (Olympic Stadium only one-third filled, but crowd never gave up).
     
Weather: Cold and clear, a few degrees below freezing. Underpitch heating made surface eminently playable, if a little slick.
     
     
* The postponement of the Serbia-Kazakhstan fixture rather invalidates UEFA's policy of ensuring that the last round of matches takes place simultaneously. If Serbia beat Poland on Wednesday and Finland also manage to overcome Portugal in Porto, there will be only muted celebrations in the Finnish camp, as the players will know they have to wait several days to learn their fate. Conversely, the Serbs will know only too well what they have to do.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Belgium 0 Finland 0: The mountain just got higher (15.10.2007)
  Finland 0 Poland 0: a more encouraging showing, but a bitterly disappointing result (13.9.2007)

Links:
  Finland National Team (Wikipedia)
  UEFA
  Jari Litmanen (Wikipedia)
  Some more pictures from a Finnish football blog (FootballinFinland)

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