If you want to know what a proper scrimmage is really like, you should check out the progress of the men’s futsal World Cup qualifiers. That’s a sad story.
Finland had already cleared its way to the top 20 European countries, the Elite Round. This year, Finland played in the Elite Round in the same qualifying group with Portugal, Georgia and Armenia.
By playing, Finland collected four series points (victory over Armenia, draw against Georgia). The goal difference became -11, when Finland scored 9 goals and conceded 20.
Still, Finland made it to the next qualifiers with 12 series points and a +11 goal difference (21 goals scored, 10 conceded).
So what’s wrong?
Portugal won the qualifying group where Finland played. Finland lost to Portugal 1–5 at home and 0–5 away.
Finland beat Armenia away 3–2, lost to Georgia away 2–5 and played at home with Georgia 3–3. However, these three matches turned into 5–0 victories for Finland, because the opponents had intimidated unrepresentable players. Finland made objections, which were accepted by UEFA.
And that’s not all. Finland was supposed to host Armenia in its last group match on December 20, but the opponent announced that they would not be there. Uefa finally judged this match as a 5–0 victory for Finland.
This is how we reached the aforementioned final result, where Finland has 12 points and +11 goal difference at the end of the group.
From the Elite Round, the winner from each of the five groups advanced to the World Cup in Uzbekistan in September-October 2024. Thus, from the Elite Round, France, Kazakhstan, Portugal, Spain and Ukraine secured their places in the World Cup.
In addition, the four best runners-up in the five groups advanced to the playoffs, where the last two World Cup spots are decided. In this comparison of the second group, Finland was the second best – so only and only by cabinet decisions!
Armenia surprised Finland with its outrageous trick. The Football Association had sold a thousand tickets to Vantaa for the final match of the qualifiers. Finland will take the matter forward, because useless match arrangements had time to incur unnecessary expenses.
Armenia’s capture was such that UEFA should at least throw the national futsal team out of the next qualifiers.
Well, waiting for that. Namely, UEFA this week announced, that it has granted the hosting rights of the futsal Champions League final tournament to Armenia. The four-team final tournament will be played in Yerevan on May 3-5, 2024.
However, the qualification mix-up speaks first of all to a wider problem that has plagued futsal for a long time.
Credibility crisis
The Finnish national futsal team developed by leaps and bounds in the last decade and is close to the European top. A number of Finnish players have moved abroad. Even in Finland, the level rose and expanded with the help of, for example, league clubs’ investments and foreign acquisitions.
At the beginning of 2022, there was even a budding futsal boom in Finland. The sport found completely new viewers, at least for a while, when the Finnish men performed brilliantly at the European Championships.
Now the honeymoon is over. The year 2023 has shown that this is still a Mickey Mouse sport after all. First, it is in a crisis of credibility. And secondly, the Finnish national team is playing miserably.
The credibility problem has to do with handover winnings and UEFA’s mix-up.
Already at the time of the European Championship, many would rub their eyes when Finland faced Kazakhstan in the first group. That is, one of the best futsal countries in the world, whose composition was starred by such names as Sweat, Douglas Junior, I do and Edson.
When Georgia and Azerbaijan met on the European Championship floor, the goalkeepers were the only players in the starting lineups who were not born in South America.
Of course, the topic is not foreign to other ball games either. For example, during the European basketball championships, there was a lot of excitement when Spain knocked out Susijeng’s number one star, the American defender Lorenzo Brownwhich had no connection to the land.
In basketball, however, the basic rule is that “the team may have one naturalized player”. Things have been wild in futsal ever since the movement of brass players to Russia started back in the day.
According to the rules of the international football association Fifa, a player is required to have citizenship and, in addition, to be eligible to play in one of the following ways: by birth in the country, one of the parents or grandparents was born in the country, or the player has lived in the country for five years.
Except that no one has enforced the rule, although there has been talk behind the scenes. It is incomprehensible that the matter only came to the fore now, when Finland and Portugal started to crack down on protests.
The way Fifa and Uefa have handled the situation says everything about how low the umbrella organizations view their own sport.
– It’s about the credibility of the sport. We expect all countries involved in the international competition system to commit to the rules. The use of players without representation rights must be eradicated permanently, the futsal manager of the Finnish Football Association Jyrki Filppu your line.
What has happened to Finland?
In a special way, the Finnish men’s futsal team is also in crisis.
Finland’s rise towards the top of Europe was personified by a Croatian to Mico Marticunder whose leadership Finland was successful due to its peculiar way of playing and playing, although it gave an equalizer in individual skill.
Above all, the national futsal team stood out for its intensity, unity and team spirit, thanks to which Finland found surprising competitive advantages against tougher countries.
It was known that after the winter 2022 European Championship, the change of coach would cause adjustment pains, but the Italian pilot Sergio Gargelli under management, the competitive advantages mentioned above have been thrown deep into the scrap heap.
Before the decision of the World Cup qualifying group, there was a real thump when Gargelli left the Finnish captain, representing the big club Inter Movistar Jani Korpelan and a conkarima stick Miika Hosion out of the team.
Gargelli reasoned that the two do not commit to the team’s “values and principles”. Gargelli did not open the issue in more detail, but assured that there is no problem with the team spirit and that the communication between the coaching staff and the players is working.
Problems, that is, at least with the game, were already visible enough before the recent sensational news.
Gargelli wanted to bring new nuances to the team, but they have remained completely enigmatic.
Instead, what has caught my eye is the total crumbling of the previous pillars of the national team. For example, uniform pressing has failed. The opponent has inoculated hits from errors that were unheard of in Finland just a moment ago.
– We have a record number of players abroad, but for some reason we haven’t been able to achieve a result, lamented the Finnish goalkeeper aptly Antti Koivumäki.
The Finnish team has not changed radically since the European Championships, even if, for example, the legend of the sport Panu Autio stopped. Gargell has also had time – such as the earlier stages of the World Cup qualification and the tough tournament trip to Thailand.
Now you can already say out loud: Martic’s boots were too big for the Italian.
Gargelli is allowed to continue until the end of this WC project, but if there is a bone in his hand in the further qualifications, it is time for a new change. At the moment, it seems that Gargell does not have the conditions to extend his contract to the end, summer 2025.
And whatever else is revealed from the inside of the dressing room…
The incredible match of the World Cup qualifiers was previously also discussed in Urheilu’s 11 friends podcast. The presenter Jussi Vainika’s questions were answered by expert Panu Autio and journalist Samu Saatsi of Urheilu. Listen below or at Areena.