Liechtenstein 1 Finland 1: Not with a bang...

Slender Finnish hopes of a qualifying place snapped in an anaemic display

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I’m not sure which team the poet and playwright T.S. Eliot supported, or even if he followed association football, since he was born in the United States and only became a British subject in his late 30s.
      In any event, Tom certainly nailed Wednesday’s match in Vaduz between Liechtenstein and Finland, which put paid to the visitors’ already minimal chances of qualifying for South Africa 2010:
     
“This is the way the world [Cup campaign] ends
Not with a bang but with a whimper.”
      The Hollow Men, 1925.
     
Finland drew 1-1 with Liechtenstein. It was not so much the loss of two points that was so painful as the abject way in which it all happened.
      This was a performance that painfully showed up the Finnish team’s weakness in being unable to pick apart a defence of part-timers, albeit well-drilled and hard-working ones, or to put in more than one or two final balls that offered the strikers a chance to score.
     
The bare bones of it are that Finland took until the 73rd minute to open the scoring, and then only succeeded when the referee awarded a soft penalty for a barely discernable push on Jari Litmanen.
      Litmanen put the penalty away smartly enough, but within a minute Liechtenstein were level in almost farcical fashion.
      The hosts marched purposefully down the right from the restart, a low ball was cut back to Michele Polverino on the edge of the box, and his shot took a wicked deflection off the chest of central defender Hannu Tihinen and flew past a despairing Jussi Jääskeläinen.
      It was only the second goal Liechtenstein have scored in these qualifying matches - and both have been scored against Finland.
      At the same time, the hosts had conceded 18 goals in their seven matches before Wednesday night.
     
Ultimately neither Tihinen nor Jääskeläinen were the real culprits for the goal.
      It was the product of a collective lack of focus at a moment when too many Finnish players apparently thought the match was won.
      In classical terms, hubris was followed smartly by nemesis.
     
In all honesty, on last night’s showing, a draw was no more than the Liechtenstein team deserved - they worked hard, never lost their shape at the back, and often looked dangerous on the break, and the Finns were truly that anaemic and quite unable to turn the possession they enjoyed into meaningful threats on Peter Jehle’s goal.
      In the first half Berat Sadik should probably have done better with a free header from one of the few decent crosses put in, and after Joonas Kolkka came on to replace Sadik, Jonatan Johansson had a couple of decent efforts denied by Jehle, but it was all pretty woeful stuff.
      As the seconds ticked away in injury time, Alexei Eremenko Jr. hit a post with a screamer of a volley from outside the box, but only the most patriotic of fans would have willed the ball to go in.
     
Somehow it was better this way, and the result - coupled with Russia’s refusal to slip on a Welsh banana-skin in Cardiff - puts a full-stop to the fevered speculation over possible World Cup qualification and can simultaneously force a start to the process of building a new team with new blood.
      Finland absolutely needed six points from their two September matches against the bottom clubs in the group: they got four, and not very convincingly at that.
      They led for barely 10 minutes of the 180 minutes played.
      Russia, meanwhile, collected all six with a 3-0 home win over Liechtenstein and an ultimately comfortable 3-1 victory in Cardiff, although Wales had their moments in the second half.
      Germany also swept Azerbaijan aside with four goals without reply, and hence it is the Germans and the Russians who will duke it out in Moscow next month to decide who gets automatic qualification from Group Four and who goes into the play-offs.
      Germany lead the table, but only by one point. Russia must quietly fancy their chances of overturning the 2-1 defeat they suffered when the sides met in Dortmund last October.
     
The Finns next have to meet Wales in Helsinki in a match that some had hoped might keep their qualification hopes alive, but now it will be all about damage limitation.
      Finland currently lead Wales by five points, but will desperately want a result at home, in order not to face the prospect of slipping into fourth place and facing an even stiffer task in the next draw, for Euro 2012.
      This would not be impossible if they should lose to Wales on October 10th, for the Finnish team must travel to Germany for their last game, while Wales have the markedly easier task of visiting Liechtenstein.
     
In any event, last night’s moral defeat is almost bound to signal the end of some illustrious international careers: captain Sami Hyypiä is probably not alone in thinking it is time to call it a day and let others drag the stone-filled sledge of getting the national team to a major tournament.
      It may indeed be the moment now (all too late, in some people’s minds) for coach Stuart Baxter to think seriously about the longer-term future and Euro 2012 rather than October’s games.
      Then again, he has to listen to his masters at the Finnish FA, and the old “pots in the draw” argument may stay his hand.
      Equally, if things remain tight at the top, the Russian coach Guus Hiddink will naturally be hoping Finland can continue their relatively good record against Germany, and Hiddink will be less than best pleased if Baxter puts out a team of young lambs - including some of those who featured in the Under-21 European Championships in Sweden this summer - who then get royally slaughtered.
     
     

Liechtenstein–Finland 1–1 (0–0)
     
Goals: 74. Jari Litmanen (pen.) 0–1, 75. Michele Polverino 1–1.
     
Finland: Jussi Jääskeläinen; Petri Pasanen, Hannu Tihinen, Sami Hyypiä (captain), Niklas Moisander; Markus Heikkinen (72. booked); Jonatan Johansson, Roman Eremenko, Alexei Eremenko jr; Jari Litmanen (82. Shefki Kuqi), Berat Sadik (59. Joonas Kolkka).
     
Coach: Stuart Baxter
     
Liechtenstein: Peter Jehle; (33. booked); Martin Rechsteiner, Yves Oehri, Michael Stocklasa, Franz Burgmeier; Marco Ritzberger, Martin Büchel* (66. Michele Polverino - 67. booked), Ronny Büchel, Raphael Rohrer (85. Roger Beck); David Hasler (55. Booked, 80. Thomas Beck), Mario Frick (90+2. booked).
     
Coach: Hanspeter Zaugg
     
Referee: Novo Panic (Bosnia-Herzegovina).
Attendance: 3,132
     
     
*Martin Büchel was sent off (from the touchline) with a straight red card in the 76th minute, some time AFTER he was substituted. Büchel, Polverino, and Frick will all miss Liechtenstein’s next game, at home to Azerbaijan.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Defenders spare Finnish blushes against Azerbaijan (7.9.2009)
  Finland 0 Russia 3 - "Déjà vu all over again" (11.6.2009)

Links:
  FIFA
  Finland National Football Team (Wikipedia)

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