Serbia 0 Finland 0: Hodgson's men got what they came for

Poland on Wednesday will require more than just dogged defending

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This was a match in which the result was paramount - how it was achieved was largely immaterial. Mercifully, football does not have a jury to award points for artistic interpretation or style.
      In Belgrade on Saturday night, Serbia were undoubtedly the better side; they kept the ball and they kept grinding away at the Finnish defence for the full ninety minutes, but the walls did not come tumbling down. All but the wildest Finnish optimists would have gladly settled for a point and a goalless draw before the kick-off, and by doggedly battling their way to this objective, the Finns were the moral winners on the night, and they kept their hopes of qualification from Group A very much alive.
     
It was not "the beautiful game", not by any stretch of the imagination. If one was hoping for creativity, slick passing, and clever running on and off the ball, this was not much of an advertisement for football.
      A bumpy, slippery, potato-field of a pitch did not help either team, and even if the Serbs were a class above the Finns in individual skills, the Finnish defenders managed to marshal themselves so well that - for all that Serbia dominated for long periods - the hosts did not seriously threaten Jussi Jääskeläinen's goal, nor did they do anything to get the strangely subdued home fans fired up and behind them.
     
The achievement of the Finnish back four of Sami Hyypiä, Hannu Tihinen, Petri Pasanen, and Toni Kuivasto was all the more impressive since they were in the thick of the action for long periods, as the visitors' midfield seldom managed to hold the ball up long enough to relieve the pressure before losing possession again and allowing the next Serbian wave to break.
      Toni Kuivasto was played at left-back, and in the early stages he was in difficulties with the nippy home forwards, but as the match went on Kuivasto and Daniel Sjölund in front of him linked up to better effect - Sjölund ran and ran, and he must have covered every inch of the park.
      On the right hand side, a similarly selfless performance from Mika Nurmela meant that Pasanen had an easier time of it, and in the middle Hyypiä and Tihinen dealt capably with the Serbian aerial bombardment, even when the 202cm Valencia striker Nikola Žigic was brought on with half an hour to go. Žigic had scored four goals in earlier qualifying games, but never looked like getting a fifth.
     
With six gritty defensive performances like these, deflecting everything that the Serbs could throw at them, and with a result in the bag, it is perhaps churlish to complain about the Finnish showing on the night.
      Still, something has to be said about the midfield and the strikers. The number of clearances that were turned into a viable Finnish counter-attack could be counted on the fingers of one careless sawmill worker's hand, and the number of throw-ins conceded must have approached a national or even European record.
      The result of this lack of control was that the poor guys at the back simply never had a moment's respite, and there will be some very tired legs among them. We shall have to hope they can recover by Wednesday evening, in time for a very different match in prospect against Poland at home.
     
If anything, Wednesday's encounter in the Olympic Stadium is now being played for even higher stakes: Poland snatched a 2-2 draw in Lisbon late on Saturday night and lead the Group A standings with 20 points from 10 games.
      The Finns are second with 18 points, and know that a win against the Poles will take them to the top of the table, regardless of what happens in the night's other crunch encounter between Portugal and Serbia, who have 16 and 15 points respectively. The Serbs and Portuguese have a game in hand on the two front-runners.
     
Wednesday against Poland is a must-win game. Just avoiding defeat at home is not really an option any longer, if the team want to secure a spot at EURO 2008 in Switzerland and Austria.
      In Belgrade, coach Roy Hodgson's team proved they can now defend stoutly and not give away a silly goal in the dying seconds. On Wednesday night, however, the strike force will also have to step up to the plate and create a great many more scoring chances than Jonatan Johansson's rather weak lob in the first half or one neat cross by Alexei Eremenko Jr. in the second, just before he made way for Mikael Forssell.
     
It won't be easy. Poland have improved a great deal since September 2006, when the Finns took them apart to win 3-1 away.
      Still, the great thing is that - with four qualifying matches left - the blue-and white team still has everything to play for. The Finnish players will certainly not be lacking in motivation: none has any experience of taking part in the finals of a major tournament, because Finland has never previously qualified for one.
      Now is as good a time as any to start.
     
     
Finland: Jussi Jääskeläinen; Petri Pasanen, Hannu Tihinen, Sami Hyypiä (captain, caution, 19), Toni Kuivasto; Mika Nurmela, Markus Heikkinen, Teemu Tainio (caution, 71), Daniel Sjölund; Alexei Eremenko Jr. (74. Mikael Forssell); Jonatan Johansson (78. Jarkko Wiss).
     
Coach: Roy Hodgson
     
Referee: Eric Braamhaar (Netherlands)
     
Attendance: c. 15,000 - the stadium was less than half-full. Most stayed at home to watch Serb tennis ace Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals of the US Open.
     
Next game: Finland v. Poland, Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Wednesday 12.9.2007, 19:00. As of last week, around 25,000 tickets had been sold, so a full house could be in prospect.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finland 2 Kazakhstan 1 (1-1): Not pretty, but the three points are welcome (23.8.2007)

Links:
  UEFA Euro 2008

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