Under-21 European Championships opener brings disappointment

Finns not disgraced, but fall to 10-man England

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Finland's Under-21 side lost their opening encounter at the UEFA European Championships in Sweden, going down 2-1 to an England squad who were reduced to ten men after half an hour following the dismissal of defender Michael Mancienne.
      The result was a disappointment for all concerned in the Finnish camp, as England were below par, had been largely contained, and were short-handed for the entire second half.
     
The Finns were not in the least overawed by the display of Premiership talent arrayed against them, and bossed the first fifteen minutes of the match, passing the ball accurately along the ground and looking completely at home, despite this being their first appearance at a major tournament.
      In a sense they were at home, as the crowd in Halmstad had a strong Finnish contingent, making a lot of noise.
      However, after a quarter of an hour, the English boys hoofed a speculative long ball out of defence to Gabriel Agbonlahor, who got the wrong side of Jonas Portin and slid a pass across the face of the goal. Lee Cattermole was on hand to scuff it in from close range.
     
The Finnish equaliser came after 33 minutes, when Mancienne's red card for a foul on Berat Sadik also saw the ball put on the penalty spot.
      Captain Tim Sparv sent the England keeper Joe Hart the wrong way to make it 1-1.
      Sadik had had a shout for an earlier penalty after Kieran Gibbs clipped his ankles, but the Turkish referee waved that one away.
      The last fifteen minutes of the half should have seen the Finns consolidate their position and make use of the extra man, but the last pass always seemed to elude their own player or was hit wastefully out.
      At the same time, England seemed to gain rather than lose from being short-handed, and they rode it out until the interval.
     
The missed opportunity came back to haunt the Finns after 53 minutes when central defender Micah Richards rose at a corner to put a bullet header into the net, with goalkeeper Anssi Jaakkola powerless to do anything.
      Tim Sparv nobly put his hand up and said it was his man and his mistake, but Richards - who has had several outings with the England senior side - is a handful at the best of times, and not above using his weight to create space. A deft nudge on Sparv went unnoticed by the officials.
      The Finnish lads chased a second equaliser, but aside from a few anxious moments at the death, Hart in the England goal had little to trouble him.
     
The Finns were by no means disgraced, unless one considers it disgraceful that they had 18 shots to England's six, that they only managed to put five of those shots on target, and that they failed to take advantage of the extra man.
      The much-touted England winger Theo Walcott was substituted at half-time after doing nothing very awe-inspiring.
      As much as anything, this was a testimony to the performance of left-back Jukka Raitala, who made the Arsenal star look quite ordinary.
     
Finland coach Markku Kanerva brought on the 19-year-old Sevilla hope Teemu Pukki after an hour.
      Pukki is undoubtedly very talented and he showed some nice touches late on, but took a long time to settle.
      To judge by the noises coming from the crowd, he might have been introduced earlier - at least then he would have had longer with his engine running smoothly.
      Another Finnish player to take the eye was Perparim Hetemaj, who seemed totally at home, though he was among the worst culprits in the second half with wayward shots and loose final balls.
     
Kanerva was naturally disappointed with the result, but put a brave face on it, and found plenty of positives from the Finnish tournament début, which many had feared might be a whitewash.
      The fact that it was not, and that England even looked ripe for the taking with a shaky performance that will probably not be repeated, only makes it more of a shame that the Finns did not take their chances when they had them.
     
Now they have an uphill struggle to qualify for the semi-finals, but they could take a leaf out of the women's book.
      At the European Championships in England in 2005, the Finnish women lost their opening game to the hosts, but went on to qualify from the group.
      In order to emulate them, the Under-21s will have to do the business against Germany on Thursday and then against Spain on June 22nd.
      Germany and Spain played out a goalless draw in their match on Monday night.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Finnish Under-21s start their European Championships bid with tough tie against England (15.6.2009)

Links:
  UEFA Under-21 European Championships
  Finland Under-21 national team (Wikipedia)

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