Football round-up: Haka cruise, Finnish women lose

0-1 home defeat to Spain is setback to World Cup qualification hopes

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TPS Turku 1  FC Haka 4 (0-1)
     
      On Saturday FC Haka from Valkeakoski ultimately had little difficulty in overcoming TPS of Turku to take the 2005 Finnish Cup trophy. They won 4-1 with goals from veteran Valeri Popovich, Cheyne Fowler, Mikko Innanen, and substitute Jarno Mattila.
      The 35-year-old Popovich was in his element, setting up strikes for Fowler and Mattila. The sole reply from TPS came from Jarno Auremaa and arrived seven minutes from time, with the match already settled at 3-0.
     
FC Haka underlined their status as the nation's best cup side: this was the 12th time they have lifted the trophy, four more than HJK Helsinki, who follow them in the statistics. This year marked the 50th anniversary of the first Finnish Cup Final. Haka brought things full circle: they also won the first-ever Cup Final.
      The match in the Finnair Stadium was relatively evenly fought over the first half-hour, but after Popovich broke the deadlock on 40 minutes with a fierce drive that struck the crossbar, appeared - at least to the officials - to cross the line, and then bounced back into the field of play, Haka took control of the proceedings and were three goals to the good by the hour-mark.
     
The victory was doubly welcome for the Valkeakoski side since they missed out on a chance at playing in Europe next season by finishing only fourth in the Finnish League behind Myllykosken Pallo (MyPa), HJK Helsinki, and Tampere United. The Cup win carries an automatic UEFA Cup qualifying spot as well as a cheque for EUR 25,000.
      Next season, MyPa will be trying for entry to the lucrative group stages of the European Champions League, HJK and Haka will be in the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds, and Tampere United go into the UEFA Intertoto Cup draw.
     
     
Finland 0 Spain 1 (0-1)
     
     
Finland's women suffered an upset in their World Cup 2007 qualifying campaign on Sunday, when they entertained Spain in the Olympic Stadium.
      After two comfortable wins against Belgium (3-0 away) and Poland (3-1 at home), and on the back of their semi-final place in the summer's European Championships, the Finns probably expected to have little trouble against the Spaniards, especially as the visitors had gone down 3-2 to Poland in their first outing.
     
However, the form-book was well and truly overturned, and the match was settled in Spain's favour by a wonderful free-kick from Raquel Cabezón after 35 minutes.
      Before that, the Finns had hit the woodwork twice, and had dominated proceedings, but though they continued to press in the second half, they failed to find a way past an effective Spanish back line, and what chances were created went begging through lack of patience in finishing.
      Although the match was watched by a healthy crowd of 5,892, a Finnish record for a women's international, head coach Mikael Käld was naturally disappointed at the result. He had hoped for a win to put the Finns at the top of the table at the end of the year.
     
Defeat leaves the Finns in second spot behind Denmark. Both teams have six points, but the Danes have only played two matches and won them both.
      Since Denmark are the most-fancied team in Group 3 - even though Finland overcame them at Euro 2005 - losing points to other teams in the group is hardly conducive to making the task of qualifying any easier.
      The next match will be away to Poland in April 2006, before Finland meet Belgium at home in May. The two possibly crucial games against the Danes are not until the late summer of next year. Only the group winners will progress to the FIFA 2007 Women's World Cup in China.


Links:
  UEFA: Finland 0 Spain 1

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