HJK starts the Champions League qualifiers in a really weak state of results – the case of Jairi, who was fired due to a criminal conviction, has talked about in the dressing room

Helsinki Football Club will host the Latvian FK RFS in the first qualifying round of the Champions League. The team from Riga, which won the Latvian League and the Cup last season, will play the first Champions League qualifying game in its history.

RFS visited Helsinki in January and beat HJK 2–0 in a training match. HJK’s in advance (you switch to another service) according to RFS plays an active attacking game, mostly in a 4–2–3–1 formation, and there are good individuals at the head of the attack. The team has scored an average of 2.5 goals per match in the current season in the Latvian league, but has had problems defending counterattacks.

– RFS is a big team, dangerous in special situations. In Latvia, the level differences are bigger than here. There are 3-4 top clubs, then others. There, RFS attacks with many players, presses high and is aggressive. It will probably change a bit for the European Games, HJK’s head coach Toni Koskela reviews for Urheilu.

HJK’s recent mood has been a minor victory. It has won only one of its last six matches: that was the Finnish Cup match as a guest of VPS, which HJK won on penalties. Later, FC Inter knocked out HJK in the quarter-finals of the Cup, also with hard-fought games.

– You also always have to think about what is happening inside the game. When you think about those games, we’ve played one really bad match overall, in Mariehamn (1-2 loss). Statistics don’t give you any points, but when you look at the picture of the match through them, we would have won 80 percent of the games, Koskela said, referring to the statistics of the IFK Mariehamn match.

– It says that there is no such thing in the game that is fundamentally completely wrong. The biggest thing of all is that we start scoring goals from places. Efficiency is the most important development target.

In their last six matches, HJK has scored only two goals. In the Veikkausliiga, its best scorer is AIK loan with four hits Bojan Radulovic. Twice have been hit Anthony Olusanya, Casper Terho and topper Miro Tenho.

Last season’s number one striker Roope Riskin the season is over due to injury, as is the defender Valtteri Morenin. In addition to them, from Saturday’s top fight against KuPS, they were on the sidelines due to injuries Perparim Hetemaj, Joona Toivio mixed Riku Riski. Nassim Boujelab on the other hand is on the side due to contract kinks (you switch to another service) 13.7. until.

Koskela revealed that Hetemaj is fit to play today, but a winger David Browne on the other hand, on the sidelines due to a concussion. In addition, players may be on the sidelines due to a small flu wave.

– The injury list is actually not that terribly long, but of course there are important players, says Koskela.

In addition, HJK lost a Brazilian from their midfield in June Jair Tavares Silvan, who received a seven-month suspended sentence for sexually abusing a child. The crime took place in 2016. Jair was included in HJK’s lineup for the Finnish Cup VPS match, but he was pulled aside at the last minute when the criminal conviction became public as reported by Iltalehti.

– Of course we have to talk about it. There are many players who have been very close to Jair for a long time. It is clear that it causes thoughts and feelings. Neither we, the coaches nor the players, have dealt with this before. It’s human that it affects different people differently.

If you think purely in terms of the game, Jair’s loss was huge for HJK.

– Of course. Not only those qualities that are hard to replace, but also the ability to play 90 minutes in every game.

The summer international transfer window opens on July 13. Koskela admits that HJK is looking for player reinforcements.

Last summer, HJK beat Montenegro’s Budućnost in the Champions League qualifiers, but lost to Malmö in the second round with 3-4 on aggregate. HJK then went on to qualify for the Europa League where they beat Neftci Baku of Azerbaijan before suffering a defeat against Fenerbache of Turkey. Therefore, HJK advanced to the Conference League played for the first time.

At least reaching the Conference League is HJK’s goal even now, says Koskela.

If HJK ​​loses to the Riga team in the Champions League qualifying, its Eurosummer will continue to the third qualifying round of the Conference League. If HJK ​​wins the RFS, it will face the Czech champion team Viktoria Plzen in the second qualifying round of the Champions League.

In addition to Finnish champion HJK, Seinäjoki Football Club, Turku Inter and Kuopio Palloseura made their way to the European Games from last season. In the first qualifying round of the Conference League, SJK will face Estonian FC Flora, Inter will face Kosovo’s Drita, and KuPS will start the European games against Georgia’s Dila Gori.