Finnish women hold Swedes and maintain slim hope of progressing at EURO 2005

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While the Finnish men were being taught a severe lesson in finishing by the Dutch in Helsinki, over in England the news from the women in the finals of the UEFA European Championships was considerably brighter. Finland battled to a goalless draw against the highly-fancied Swedes, and so kept alive their hopes of progressing to the semi-finals.
      The Finnish women defended in depth and blunted the Swedish attack, although at times the game was decidedly one-sided, with the Swedes laying siege to the goal protected by Satu Kunnas. She had another good game, and scooped up just about everything that came her way in the air.
      In front of Kunnas, the Finnish defence worked tirelessly, not least Petra Vaelma on the left. Vaelma's territory was the main route to goal taken by the Swedish attacks, and she will definitely know she has played a game of football this morning.
      The Swedes hit a post late on, and actually did get the ball in the net once, but the referee spotted a throw-in infringement and disallowed the goal.
      The upshot of a brave performance is that the Finns have all to play for in their last qualifying round match, against Denmark, who came from behind to defeat England 2-1.
     
If the Finnish women can step up a gear and beat the Danes, then the Finns will go through as slightly unlikely semi-finalists. For the Swedes, who came into this tournament as the runners-up in the last Women's World Cup, only a win against England will get them through.
      The Finns will go into their last match as underdogs, admittedly, but they have nothing to lose and all to gain, and will at least know that things are in their hands: whatever happens between Sseden and England, taking three points off the Jutes will be enough to secure progress.
      The current points standings are that Denmark lead Group A with four points, the English have 3 from their 3-2 win over Finland, Sweden have 2 from two draws, and the Finns have one point.
      The last two matches will be played on Saturday.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Heading Finland onto the world map! (7.6.2005)
  Bitter last-minute defeat for Finnish women in European Championships (6.6.2005)

Links:
  UEFA Women's EURO 2005

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