The Finnish national football team suffered its sixth loss in a row. In the final match of the Nations League, Greece was better.
Jaakko Servo,
Mika Halonen,
Sami Laine
The Finnish and Greek Nations League match was followed in this article.
The Finnish national football team is on its longest losing streak since 1981. Huuhkajat suffered a 0–2 loss to Greece in the final match of the Nations League on Sunday evening in Helsinki.
The losing streak is now six games long. In competitive matches, the losing streak is seven matches, taking into account the EC play-off against Wales. The only win of the year is against Estonia in a friendly match.
Finland had its own places in the Greece match, but the final solutions were classless. There are zero shots on goal for Greece.
Defender of the team Robert Ivanov opened his feelings after the Greece defeat. Ivanov, 30, who played full minutes as a starter, was overcome with emotion in the interview, his voice was shaking.
– This fall has been a disaster. Almost no matter what happens if you lose six games in a row. It’s not acceptable.
Ivanov also took a stand on the coaching team, even though he wasn’t asked.
– We talk about coaches and management, but even if we had Pep Guardiola here, that’s how we players play on the field. Our players have to take responsibility for this. This hurts especially when there are a lot of people watching here again, and it’s a big deal to play for the national team. It feels like shit.
Ivanov recalled the summer 2023 European Championship qualifiers, when Finland played. After a streak of four victories, Finland was even firmly in the European Championship.
– Futis is sometimes wonderful. Then I had a feeling that we are going to conquer the world with this gang. Now I have this feeling. It’s sick how so much can happen in one year.
– It’s about fudge and because of the emotions we also love to do this. In your own way, you have to learn to appreciate this too.
“Eat a Man”
Also the midfielder who played full minutes in the Greece match Robin Lod was frustrated with his team’s performance.
– Yes, this eats at a man, and we are all being tested at the moment. Nothing really works and nothing pops out for us. On the other hand, I don’t know if we have earned anything like that with such performances.
Lod emphasized that it is difficult to have time to implement new things for playing with the small amount of training, but he stated right after that there have been six games, so the reason can be found in the mirror.
– I don’t know if Greece played well, but at least well enough. We, on the other hand, didn’t play the way we could. It feels like all of us underperformed all the time, Lod added.
The Greek match was Huuhkajie’s last for a while. Next, the team will start their World Cup qualifying campaign, probably in March.
Finland dropped to the C League in the Nations League. In the six autumn matches, the goal difference was wild: 2–13.
The victory of the group and promotion to the A-League went to England, who defeated Ireland 5–0 in the final match. Greece can qualify for promotion to the A-League. Ireland qualifies for a place in the B-League.