Sweden 5 Finland 0: A richly deserved hiding

Zlatan cashes in on defensive errors with a brisk hat-trick

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This was a rout. Sweden scored five and could have had more against a Finnish team that managed to produce an astonishing collection of individual errors that might have gone unpunished by San Marino, but which any self-respecting footballing nation was going to penalise in the time-honoured fashion.
      The Swedes said "thank you" and filled their boots.
      "We shot ourselves in the foot", said coach Mixu Paatelainen after the game, and he pretty much hit the nail on the head.
     
It was always going to be an uphill task for a relatively inexperienced "in transition" Finnish side to get anything out of Sweden - who still harbour hopes of European Championships qualification, either as runners-up to The Netherlands or even as group winners - but the visitors seemed determined almost from the opening whistle to give themselves no chance of survival in Stockholm's Råsunda Stadium.
     
Paatelainen made three changes from the side that struggled to overcome San Marino, bringing in Anssi Jaakkola for his first cap in goal, replacing Lukas Hradecky.
      Joona Toivio took over from Jukka Raitala at the back, and Roman Eremenko returned to the midfield after suspension.
      With only three minutes on the clock, Jaakkola nearly gifted the Swedes a goal with an inauspicious clearance that then forced him into a save from the resulting attack.
      Alexei Eremenko Jr. got himself a yellow card for a rather pointless foul in midfield after ten minutes, but worse was to come, as Kim Kallström's long-range free-kick from this infringement eluded everyone and bounced awkwardly around the penalty spot to go under Jaakkola's vain dive.
     
For the next ten minutes or so, the Finns attempted to steady the ship without any great success.
      When they did get the ball forward, Mikael Forssell was all too often a solitary figure - except for the two resolute Swedish defenders who made life uncomfortable for him any time the action got close.
     
As if to make matters worse for the Finns, the Zlatan Ibrahimovic who rather surprisingly came on in place of Ola Toivonen up front after just 25 minutes was "the real Zlatan", the classy natural goalscorer, and not his temperamental evil twin, who sometimes turns up for club and country.
      Zlatan proceeded to have a great game, without having to get out of third gear and without having to risk any recurrence of the ankle injury that had kept him sidelined for the Moldova match and initially on the bench for this one.
      He was on the scoresheet within six minutes, thanks to a woeful clearance from Petri Pasanen that found only Johan Elmander, who picked out Ibrahimovic on the edge of the box.
      When Zlatan is on form, a goal from here is a no-brainer, and he duly slotted home just inside Jaakkola's right-hand post.
     
A second Zlatan strike came in almost equally farcical circumstances only four minutes later, as Jaakkola delivered an awkward ball out to Markus Heikkinen, who made it look even more tricky than it was, and Heikkinen was smartly robbed by the advancing Sebastian Larsson.
      Larsson released Zlatan, who this time did not even have a goalkeeper to beat.
     
With exquisite timing, the Swedish director zoomed in on Stuart Baxter sitting in the crowd.
      What was the former coach thinking of as he saw the Finns three down in barely half an hour?
      Paatelainen looked grimmer and grimmer as the half wound down, as the scoreline indicated that damage limitation was about the best he could hope for from here on, and his defence was clearly already suffering from serious shellshock.
     
After the break, Paatelainen brought on Markus Halsti for Markus Heikkinen, and Mika Ääritalo replaced Kasper Hämäläinen in midfield.
      Any brief hopes that we might see a recovery - Perparim Hetemaj did swing over a neat cross that eventually found its way to Forssell in space in front of goal, but Forssell's outstretched leg only sprayed the ball wide - were rudely dashed as the bleeding at the back continued.
      Zlatan collected his hat-trick with almost insolent ease as the entire Finnish defence allowed him all the room in the world to rise and head purposefully into the far corner from Kallström's free-kick on the right.
      Understandably the hosts began to take their foot off the gas a bit by this stage, and the Finns flattered to deceive that they might even score, as Hetemaj remained industrious and Niklas Moisander tested Andreas Isaksson in the Swedish goal with a shot from the left edge of the box.
     
However, it was all smoke and mirrors, and seven minutes from time Zlatan crowned an excellent evening's work by turning provider to unleash Emir Bajrami down the left.
      Bajrami scampered past Joona Toivio with ease and then lifted the ball over Jaakkola for a fifth goal.
      In the meantime, Paatelainen gave a first cap to young Alexander Ring, who had the misfortune to go down heavily on the track surrounding the pitch, and Ring spent the last minutes of the game back on the bench having treatment. Though in pain, he might well have been glad not to be involved - it was that awful.
     
The inept Finnish display doesn't take anything away from the Swedish performance: they went about their business efficiently enough and fully deserved to win, although they probably couldn't believe their luck at how easy it was made for them.
      In retrospect, the comments made by the Swedish media (see Tuesday's article) in advance of the game were horribly accurate: the Swedes do move in different footballing circles.
      As if to rub salt in the wound, the observation that Finland were no different from Iceland or the Faeroe Islands as opponents was underlined by another qualifier result on Tuesday - the Faeroe Islanders beat Estonia 2-0 in a Group C fixture to record their first win in this campaign.
     
It is probably only a blessing in disguise that Finland can now continue to build for the future under Paatelainen without any undue "pressure to get results", since any chance of securing a place in next year's European Championships finals has long gone.
      The qualifiers will be wound up in the autumn with home games against Moldova, The Netherlands, and Sweden, and the campaign ends with a visit to Hungary, who put three past San Marino without reply in Tuesday's other Group E match.
      The Finns have lost to all four of these upcoming opponents already during this campaign, but at least they have kept their noses in front of mighty San Marino.
     
The powers-that-be in the Finnish FA must now be resigned to the fact that rebuilding the national side will be a long process, and it is to be hoped that they do give Paatelainen the chance to work in peace and do not force him into slamming on the brakes on the necessary change-of-generation in the side.
      They will nevertheless be as bitterly disappointed by this latest showing as the fans were (a couple of thousand stalwarts travelled to Stockholm to witness the débacle), not least because it is unlikely to encourage many casual supporters to part with their euros at the Olympic Stadium in a few months' time for the arrival of the Dutch and the Swedes, let alone to see Finland play Moldova on September 2nd.
     
     

     
UEFA European Championships 2012, Qualifying Group E:
     
Sweden - Finland 5–0 (3–0) 11. Kim Källström 1–0, 31. Zlatan Ibrahimovic 2–0, 35. Ibrahimovic 3–0, 53. Ibrahimovic 4–0, 83. Emir Bajrami 5–0.
     
     
Sweden: Andreas Isaksson; Mikael Lustig, Olof Mellberg, Daniel Majstorovic, Oscar Wendt; Anders Svensson (capt.), Kim Källström; Sebastian Larsson (89. Christian Wilhelmsson), Ola Toivonen (25. Zlatan Ibrahimovic), Emir Bajrami; Johan Elmander (81. Pontus Wernbloom).
     
Finland: Anssi Jaakkola; Joona Toivio, Petri Pasanen (capt.), Markus Heikkinen (46. Markus Halsti), Niklas Moisander; Roman Eremenko, Mika Väyrynen; Kasper Hämäläinen (46. Mika Ääritalo), Alexei Eremenko Jr (booked; 80. Alexander Ring), Perparim Hetemaj; Mikael Forssell.
     
Referee: Antony Gautier, France.
     
Attendance: 32,128.
     
     


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Swedes in the dark about Finnish football (7.6.2011)

Links:
  Finland National Football Team (Wikipedia)
  UEFA

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