Urheilu followed the match between England and Finland in this article.
Finland lost to England with 0–2 goals in the Nations League at Wembley Stadium. In the match, Huuhkajie’s substitutions at halftime were the talk of the town. Modelly performed Teemu Pukki and Jere Uronen was taken off the field. They were replaced by a full-back Ilmari Niskanen and attack Benjamin Källman.
Both of England’s goals came from Niskanen’s mistakes. The first came after a stray pass by Niskanen and the second after Niskanen played too aggressively in defense.
‘s commentary Matti Härkönen and Antti Pohja considered the half-time substitutions surprising and special if Puki and Uros did not have any injuries in the background.
However, Kanerva told Urheilu after the match other than health reasons.
– You always have to think when there are three exchange events. Now it was decided that two changes will be made already during the break. When replacing Källman, the idea was to get a player who can hold the ball a little. We get a raised line and thus longer attacks. There was also another counter attacking player Top Middleheather first.
From Ilmari Niska, Kanerva reasoned that she wanted to see Niskanen “in these circles”.
– There’s nothing to it. Jere let go a few times, but played relatively well. “Immu” had difficulties. Those goals are sad. They came out a bit silly. A sideline throw was missed. There was a bit of unnecessarily aggressive pressing in the second goal. The cell phone opened. Those goals could have been prevented, Kanerva thought.
According to Kanerva, it is of course clear that England would force goals.
– It would take quite a bit of stretching from the whole team to be able to keep a clean sheet, Kanerva said.
Played against Greece Tomas Galvez was also an option for the field, according to Kanerva, but we wanted to see other options with the future in mind.
– Tomas played a good game against Greece. Jere and Ilmar now had a seam to show. More information was received with October in mind, Kanerva said and finally referred to the next Nations League matches.
‘s studio is an expert Toni Koskela continued to wonder after hearing Kanerva’s reasoning.
– I am amazed by the changes. However, Pukki managed to catch someone’s ball. The counterattack threat disappeared completely in the second period, Koskela began.
– Uronen was played a couple of times, of course, but I don’t know why more information about Ilmari Niskas is needed. We pretty much know what level of player he is. Niskanen is also a player of that age that he will stay at that level. It is unlikely that he will develop terribly if he is not able to take big steps in his club team.
Koskela would have understood changing to Galvez as a young player if he wanted to make a change.
– Niskanen was in big trouble. Both goals came from there in the end, although others had problems as well. Still, the changes didn’t improve the game, Koskela pointed out.
Topi Keskinen winced
Made it to the starting line-up for the first time in Huuhkaj Top Middle described that he was satisfied with the match, but a couple of places should have been used better. Keskinen was able to score a couple of times when he was able to counter quickly in the first half.
– Against such teams, they have to score a goal. It would have been one good place if I had played For Teemu Puki. I pulled and looked that “ai Teemu was free”. Nothing more, just a basic situation, Keskinen described.
In the future, Keskinen relies on the fact that the next two Nations League matches will be played at home against Ireland and England in October.
– The home advantage is very important in these games. When you win in the heat, there’s nothing to worry about.
Hradecky gave a rating of 6-
In the opening games of the Huuhkajien Nations League, there was a lot of talk about the change in the way of playing, when the coaching leadership around Markku Kanerva was renewed.
– We know the principles, what we have to do and create a game. The fact is that at some point the level difference will become visible. At home against Greece, it will be a more even game and you have to win such games at home, Finland’s captain Lukas Hradecky stated.
Toppar, one of the most successful in Finland Arttu Hoskonen according to Huuhkajie, we are still getting used to the new way of playing, but according to him, progress was made in the England game.
– You have to be disciplined and you have to keep the whole team together. In the Greece game, there were unnecessarily large spaces that they took advantage of, Hoskonen said about the defensive philosophy.
Hradecky was proud of his team against England.
– You can’t defend against such a mill indefinitely. World-class players, yes they will find the facilities. A big challenge against such teams. I don’t know what to come up with. We shouldn’t beat these teams. We would talk about a miracle, Hradecky described.
However, Hradecky gives 6- for the opening games of the Nations League against Greece and England, because Finland did not score any goals and conceded five.
– The starting point is that the guys have to give one hundred percent and play with a big heart. That’s what we did today. At some point, the reward will come, as long as we believe.
Finland’s minimum goal is to stay in the B group of the Nations League this season.
– Now we have to start taking points. You have to adapt to the opponent. Today the emphasis was on defense, but in the future we need to develop attacking play, head coach Markku Kanerva looked to the future.