Finland start World Cup campaign with home fixture against Germany

Russian artificial turf raises some questions

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Finland's national football team will begin its qualifying campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup on September 10th with a home game against the group favourites, Germany.
      Later in the autumn, the Finns will also host Azerbaijan, and will travel to Russia on October 15th.
      This will leave seven matches to be played in the course of 2009, with the first being a trip to Cardiff on March 28th to meet Wales.
     
The ten Finnish matches will culminate in a home game against Wales on October 10th and a visit to Germany four days later.
      Finland welcome the Russians to Helsinki in June.
     
Pekka Hämäläinen, President of the Finnish FA, was well pleased with the way that negotiations for the fixture list went in Frankfurt on Thursday.
      Matters were influenced by climatic considerations, and by the finals of the women's European Championships, which will be held in Finland in the late summer of 2009.
      Hämäläinen was content that the home games could all be played in good conditions and with a rhythm that would suit the local supporters.
      The schedule will allow Finland to play a couple of warm-up friendlies before the off, on August 20th and September 6th, which have both been set aside by national leagues for international games.
     
One issue that did come up in Frankfurt was the possibility that the Russians would seek to use artificial turf as a playing surface for their home games, as they did against England in the recent EURO 2008 qualifiers.
      The German coach Joachim Löw is considering taking his side early to Russia in order to be able to acclimatise to the unusual surface, if their away game is set for the Luzhny Stadium in Moscow.
     
Finland will go into the qualifiers knowing that Germany and Russia are favourities to qualify.
      Only the group winner can be confident of a ticket to South Africa and the finals - the eight best second-placed teams will play off for the four remaining UEFA places at the World Cup.
      The Finns narrowly failed to secure a passage to the UEFA Euro 2008 finals, giving Portugal and Poland a fright along the way, but since then the Finnish national coach Roy Hodgson has moved on, and the team is currently looking for a new hand on the helm.*
      Much will depend on the name of the new head coach, for a number of Finnish players are of an age where retirement from the international game could be either imminent or at the very least a serious temptation.
     
Finland's games in the 2010 World Cup Qualification (UEFA Group 4)
     
2008:
      10.9. Finland-Germany
      11.10. Finland-Azerbaijan
      15.10. Russia-Finland
     
2009:
      28.3. Wales-Finland
      6.6. Finland-Liechtenstein
      10.6. Finland-Russia
      5.9. Azerbaijan-Finland
      9.9. Liechtenstein-Finland
      10.10 Finland-Wales
      14.10. Germany-Finland
     
     
* On this subject, the list of speculative candidates for the job of coaching Finland was reduced by one on Thursday with the announcement that Mika-Matti Paatelainen would be terminating his contract with TPS of Turku to take up a four-year deal managing Hibernian FC in Scotland.
      Paatelainen spent much of his active playing career in Scotland, and his wife and children still live in Edinburgh.
      A good many names - Finnish and foreign - have been put in the frame for the Finnish national coaching job, and according to the Finnish FA around 20 individuals have tendered a formal application for the post.
      It is hoped that a decision can be reached by the end of this month.
      Matters were slightly hampered by the recent move by the previous incumbent Roy Hodgson to manage Fulham in the English Premiership. Hodgson, who has agreed to serve as a consultant in the selection process, was originally bound for a directorial position at Inter Milan, but was snatched up by the London club, currently struggling in the relegation zone.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland to meet Germany and Russia in 2010 World Cup qualification (26.11.2007)
  Hodgson steps down as Finland head coach - heads for Inter Milan (30.11.2007)

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