Finland’s national futsal team will face Malta today in its opening match of the European Championship qualifiers. The participation of Belarus speaks volumes.
17.12. 16:00•Updated 17.12. 22:23
Finland will face Malta in the opening match of the European Championship qualifiers. Live broadcast at Areena from 19:50.
The Finnish men’s futsal team will start the European Championship qualifiers in the evening, when they face Malta. Italy and Belarus are also in Finland’s group.
Allowing Belarus, which supports Russia in the war in Ukraine, into the European Championship qualifiers has caused a stir. The Finnish Football Federation would not like to face Belarus.
The Finnish Football Association hopes that the matches will be played in a neutral location in March.
– Uefa has put us in an extremely difficult situation by forcing us to play against Belarus. Our national teams and the federation will be sanctioned if we don’t play. The compromise is that we play on neutral ground, General Secretary of the Football Association Marco Casagrande expressed in the association’s press release in October.
Sports expert Panu Autio finds this situation regrettable.
– It’s a crazy situation to even have to think about something like this, Autio refers to Belarus’ participation in the qualifiers.
Finnish players should focus primarily on playing in the qualifiers. The participation of Belarus may indeed bring an additional mental challenge.
– A lot depends on where the games are played and what kind of media attention there is. The players and the team are asked for comments.
– It’s not a nice situation. There are few games and Uefa has decided that they will be in the competition. It’s a really challenging situation for the players, Autio sees.
The Finnish women’s national football team was drawn in the same group as Belarus in the upcoming Nations League tournament.
Experience
The Finnish national futsal team had an exciting experience in the spring, when Holland took the World Cup tournament spot in the penalty shootout in the further qualifiers.
Now the team can start with a clean slate. The team consists of roughly the same players as before, which Autio considers a good thing.
He sees that Italy, Finland and Belarus are on the same page in terms of games. The weakest link in the group beforehand is Malta, but it is ready to surprise with a few players with a Brazilian background.
– Futsal is a team game that is based on how well the collective can measure its potential through joint play. Certain experienced players can take on more of a leader role and the mantle of solver.
According to Autio, the big question for Finland’s success is who or who will score the goals in tight games.
The Finnish team’s top players include, among others Iiro Vanha, Jani Korpela mixed Jukka Kytölä. However, none of them is a real goal scorer.
– There are many who have done them, for example, in the Futsal League. With Henri Alamikkotervo is a great kick. If it could be used better in special situations, there are great possibilities.
– One player doesn’t need to score 10–15 goals, as long as the attacking is dangerous enough and the power comes in, says Autio.
In the European Championship qualifiers, the group winners advance directly to the European Championships. In addition, the eight best second-placed teams from the ten groups advance to the EC further qualification, from which the winners of the pairs of matches (4) get the last places in the games.
The tournament hosts Latvia and Lithuania will definitely make it to the 16-nation European Championships.
Corrected at 10:23 p.m.: It has been clarified that the eight best teams from the second group can qualify for the next round.