Russia 3 Finland 0: On their knees in Moscow

Russian task eased by two Finnish own goals

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By Tommi Hannula in Moscow
     
      Russia were much, much better than Finland in last night’s game in Moscow.
      Even having got that salient fact out of the way, the Finns made the home side’s job all too easy for them.
      In a UEFA 2010 World Cup Qualification match that saw Finland go down to a stark 3-0 defeat, the first two Russian goals came off the boots of Finnish defenders.
     
The first, after 23 minutes, was touched into the net by Petri Pasanen, and the second, after just over an hour, bobbled in off Veli Lampi’s leg.
      “I thought I was going to clear the ball away, but I miskicked it”, said Pasanen of the situation in which he attempted to put the ball out of reach of Pavel Pogrebnjak after the Russians had carved the Finnish defence open down the left, like the proverbial hot knife through butter.
      As on many occasions throughout the game, full-back Juri Zhirkov, who had taken the eye at the European Championships in the summer, was involved in the build-up.
     
In the second case the ball slipped through goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen’s legs to Lampi, who could not react quickly enough to the situation before it was too late.
      Once again, the goal was preceded by a sweeping Russian move, this time down the right, and by a cross that eluded all the Finnish defenders before it was hooked back towards goal from the left hand edge of the box by Konstantin Zyrjanov.
     
The visitors came close to scoring an almost unprecedented hat-trick of own goals.
      At the end of the first half Lampi cleared straight at Jääskeläinen, and the ball bounced off his back towards the goal-line. Fortunately captain Sami Hyypiä was there to scoop it to safety.
     
For the third Russian goal, right at the death, the game's biggest star turn Andrei Aršavin showed what all the fuss surrounding him is about.
      Seemingly with all the time in the world, he strolled forwards in midfield, switched gears suddenly, and boomed through a gap between Hyypiä and Hannu Tihinen, rounded Jääskeläinen, and slotted the ball home from a narrow angle past Markus Heikkinen, who was vainly tracking back to clear.
      It might only have been fitting if Heikkinen had put the ball in the net himself, but then it would have taken away from a small piece of genius from Aršavin.
     
The Russians were clearly stung by their 2-1 defeat to Germany at the weekend (in a match where many commentators have said they ought to have taken at least a point), and the full-body press they exerted on the Finns meant the visitors never had a chance to move forward in attacking mode.
      When they themselves went in search of goal, the young Russian side demonstrated just how fast and talented they are.
      The Russians were not only full of running, but played like a mature team.
      There were always red shirts to be found in numbers wherever the ball went.
      It is hard to imagine how Finland could have turned this game around at any stage, even if their own passing had been at least 75% better than it was.
     
“Russia are perhaps the best side in the world at moving from defence into attack”, said Finland’s head coach Stuart Baxter.
      He’s not far wrong. They would have given anyone a hard time on Wednesday, let alone a Finnish side that was well below par.
      Finland kept the same starting squad after the interval. However, when the second goal went in Roman Eremenko, who had (like many of his colleagues, unfortunately) been guilty of getting caught in possession all too often and of delivering a string of misdirected passes, was replaced by Teemu Tainio. Tainio was apparently not yet in 90-minute shape.
     
The Sunderland midfielder's introduction nevertheless proved no better answer to the conundrum of how to get the ball from midfield up to lone striker Mikael Forssell.
      Forssell was all too alone looking for space with a lot of red shirts buzzing around him, and he did not get the necessary support from midfield.
      When the ball was delivered to him, he found himself having to try to wriggle his way past the imposing Russian defenders all on his ownsome.
      The entrance of veteran midfielder Jari Litmanen a few minutes from the end did no harm, but it was a bit like watching the cavalry - or rather one bemedalled senior cavalry officer - showing up after the Apaches have torched the ranch.
     
Russia could easily have made the scoreline look even uglier in the second half.
      Jussi Jääskeläinen had a decent game between the posts. He could hardly be blamed for the goals that went in, and in the second period he produced some good saves.
      In any event, the hosts squandered a number of chances without any interference from Jääskeläinen.
      For instance, right after the restart Igor Semšov had two clear opportunities to score but on both occasions he shot alarmingly wide from a good position.
     
“For the first fifteen minutes we did the things we wanted to do, and the game went the way we had hoped. But from then on we lost the ball time and again, too many times”, said Baxter.
      “Russia wanted the win more.”
      It is indicative of the way things were that Finland did not muster a single shot on the Russian goal, guarded on the night by Igor Akinfejev, who managed to look like a Finnish player.
      The Finns were playing in their away strip of blue shirts, white shorts, and blue socks, while Akinfejev’s colours were reversed, just like Finland at home.
      Unfortunately for the Finns, Akinfejev wasn’t into giving away any own goals.
     
In Wednesday’s other Group 4 game, Germany saw off Wales by the only goal of their match in Mönchengladbach. This means that the teams in go into the winter break with Germany on top of the group and Russia in second place.
      The Germans have ten points from their four matches, the Russians six from their three.
      Wales have played four games and won two and lost two, putting them ahead of Finland, who have four points to show for their three outings.
      Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein each have a single point from their earlier draw in Baku.
     
This resounding defeat was actually Finland’s first loss in competitive matches since they went down at home to Serbia in June 2007.
      Admittedly the nine-match run, through the Euro 2008 qualifiers and into this World Cup campaign, had included five draws, four of them goalless.
      Finland will next play Portugal away in a friendly in February, before the World Cup games restart with a visit to Cardiff to meet Wales on March 23rd.
     
Realistically, in order to have any serious hopes of qualifying, even in the second-place spot that offers a playoffs lifeline, they will have to win that one and hope the Welsh can steal points off Russia and Germany when they entertain them in April and September.
      And the Finns will naturally have to take maximum points from all their home games, including the Russians in June.
      But that is all a long way off.
     
     
Russia–Finland 3–0 (1–0)
     
Goals: 23. Own goal (Petri Pasanen) 1–0, 65. Own goal (Veli Lampi) 2–0, 88. Andrei Aršavin 3–0.
     
Russia: Igor Akinfejev; Aleksandr Anjukov (booked, 34.), Sergei Ignaševitš, Vasili Berezutski, Juri Žirkov; Igor Semšov, Konstantin Zyrjanov, Igor Denisov, Sergei Semak; Andrei Aršhavin (90. Alan Dzagojev); Pavel Pogrebnjak (60. Ivan Saenko).
     
Finland: Jussi Jääskeläinen; Veli Lampi, Hannu Tihinen, Sami Hyypiä, Petri Pasanen; Markus Heikkinen; Daniel Sjölund (84. Jari Litmanen), Mika Väyrynen (69. Paulus Roiha), Roman Eremenko (66. Teemu Tainio), Joonas Kolkka (booked, 62.); Mikael Forssell.
     
Referee: Kyros Vassaras, Greece.
     
Venue: Lokomotiv Stadium, Moscow
     
Attendance: c. 30,000 (capacity - around 700 intrepid Finnish fans made the trip)
     
     
Helsingin Sanomat / Edited from an article first published on 16.10.2008

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 COMMENT: Lose to a top team, and you have to beat one

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland 1 Azerbaijan 0 - It´s the points that count (13.10.2008)

Links:
  UEFA - 2010 World Cup: European Qualifying Group 4
  Finland National Football Team (Wikipedia)

TOMMI HANNULA / Helsingin Sanomat
tommi.hannula@hs.fi