Finnish national squad begin Euro 2012 campaign with tricky game against Moldova
Striker Mikael Forssell returns to scene of his first international appearance
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The Finnish national football team, dubbed "The Eagle-Owls", begin their campaign to secure a place in the finals of the UEFA European Championships in 2012 today with a tricky assignment in Moldova.
The team travelled earlier this week to the capital Chisinau, where the game will kick off in the 10,000-seat Zimbru Stadium at 19:30.
Moldova are certainly not the strongest opponent in a qualifying group that also includes World Cup finalists The Netherlands, Sweden, Hungary, and footballing minnows San Marino.
Nevertheless this is an awkward fixture, and in the recent past the Finns have shown a disconcerting ability to slip up on such banana-skins, especially away from home. The 1-1 draw away to Liechtenstein is still fresh in the memory from the last World Cup qualifying campaign.
Head coach Stuart Baxter will be hoping for some flair up front to break down what will probably be a stubborn home defence with nine men behind the ball for much of the game, and he will be looking in particular to lone striker Mikael Forssell to get on the scoresheet.
For Forssell, whose hugely promising career has of late been blighted by injuries, the visit to Chisinau will be a trip down Memory Lane, as it was here that he had his first of his 68 senior international appearances, coming on as a substitute in a drab 0-0 draw in the summer of 1999.
Forssell was then a teenager with everything in front of him, and in the 2003-2004 season he scored 17 goals in the English Premiership with Birmingham City, but although he has gone on to be a regular member of the Finnish squad, his progress of late has been hampered by a string of injuries.
Most recently he was out for several months with a foot problem, with matters compounded by a mistake in his treatment by the physician at Hannover 96, the Bundesliga club where he now plays.
Fully fit, he poses a threat to any defence, and if he can be supplied with decent passes from the midfield duo of Aleksei Eremenko Jr. and the talismanic 38-year-old veteran Jari Litmanen, Baxter's prayers may yet get answered ,and Forssell could score his 20th goal in a Finnish jersey.
At the same time, the defence under captain Sami Hyypiä will need to keep a clean sheet.
Hyypiä will not want a repeat of the only other time Finland and Moldova have played - a streaky 3-2 win in Helsinki in 1998.
Finland's players need to bring back three points from Chisinau, as things are only going to get more difficult in four days' time, when the team travel to Rotterdam to face The Netherlands, the beaten finalists in South Africa just a few months ago.
In October the home fans will get their first chance to see the team in action, with a match against Hungary in the Olympic Stadium in Helsinki.
Another home game against San Marino follows in November before the qualifying competition takes a winter break.
The much-awaited encounters with neighbours Sweden will be in June (away) and October (home) of next year.
Tonight's game will be televised live on YLE's TV2 from 19:20 local time.
Links:
Finland National Football Team (Wikipedia)
Mikael Forssell (Wikipedia)
Helsingin Sanomat
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