The Finnish men’s national football team will meet Ireland in the Nations League match today at 21:45. Studio broadcast on TV2, Areena and the app from 21:10.
The autumn of Huhkaji has been very negative. The losing streak has stretched to five games in competitive matches.
Even on an individual level, those who succeed are few and far between, but a topper Arttu Hoskonen27, is the strongest among them.
– Yes, I think I have succeeded. Of course, the results have been bad and we have conceded a lot of goals, so there is room for improvement, but on a general level I have been successful, Hoskonen tells Urheilu in Dublin.
The statistics prove that Hoskonen’s personal achievements have really been the best of the team.
Especially in the away game against England, he made an impression despite the loss. A Finn was chosen at that time To the WhoScored team of the week.
– Hoskonen was largely responsible for the fact that the match remained goalless until the break, the choice was justified on the WhoScored website.
Against England at Wembley alone, Hoskonen recorded 12 tackles, four interceptions and five won duels.
Taking all four Nations League matches, Hoskonen is Finland’s statistical leader in blocks and tackles. He has not broken the fall in games yet.
– At least they are not winning statistics yet. However, it sounds good and tells me that I have done things right on the field. Hopefully they will start to show in the results, says Hoskonen.
Hoskonen joined the A national team for the first time only at the age of 25, in the fall of 2022. In his twenties, the man from Turku didn’t even have a hooded jacket in mind.
– In my early twenties, I started seriously thinking about football and that this would become my profession. My first professional contracts went away while I was playing, and I didn’t think about football anymore, says Hoskonen.
At this point, Hoskonen had already played in the Veikkausliiga for Inter. For the 2022 season, he moved to HJK and is now playing his third season in Poland in the ranks of Cracovia.
So he went abroad only at the age of 25, after his national team debut.
– I always said that it’s hard to force yourself to do something you don’t want to do. It was more like it’s nice to play football. Back then I was perhaps more interested in hanging out with friends and being outside, hanging out in bars on the weekend, Hoskonen says.
– Only at a later age did I get the feeling that I wanted to make football a profession. Maybe I grew as a person. The fire in football came later.
Hosko, who describes himself as a carefree young person, was not interested in training as much as some others. Inter’s head coach at the time played a big role in the change Jose Riveiro.
– I didn’t get a lot of playing time in the first year. We spoke with Riveiro, and he said that “Arttu, try for one year”. I tried to invest more in football and things started to roll. Minutes came, I played well and I started thinking that this is fun, this is what I want to do. It was a turning point.
I stopped going to bars. The focus remained on football around the clock.
– At the age of 18, I was close to quitting football, but then I was asked to join Inter’s representative team, says Hoskonen.
Hoskonen feels that he needed an external awakening to realize his own potential.
– I needed someone who seriously believed in me and said try now, you are a good player and you can become a good player.
But what would Arttu Hoskonen do if he didn’t play football?
– It never occurred to me that I could do anything other than play football. I wasn’t good at anything else. I decided to make this a profession. I’m not interested in being in the office from eight to four.
– I thought about it in such a way that maybe I had to do other things so that I could focus on football. If I had started to focus on football when I was younger, would I have felt later in life that ok, now I want to do other things? Hoskonen ponders.
Back to the present day and Poland, actually forward. Hoskosen already has the next steps in mind.
– I want to see how far the pellets will last. Desire and motivation are hard. I would like to play in Europe in top5 leagues. Of course, England interests me and Italy interests me a lot as a country. We’ll see what happens after this season.
The near future of the national team will be determined during the rest of the week. The seams to stay in the B level of the Nations League are thin. First, Ireland must be knocked out away from home on Thursday, so that there is still some stake left for Sunday’s match with Greece.
– Ten years ago, I would not have thought that I would now be in this situation in the national team. I’m not saying this is a miracle, because I know that if I do something, I usually end up succeeding at it. And here we are now.
If someone is trying to tear up a positive spirit for the upcoming matches between Ireland and Greece, the previous game against England at the Olympic Stadium ended in a positive mood for Huuhkajie. Hoskonen headed the goal from a corner kick in the final moments of the match.