Jacob Friis entered Huuhkaji with style and consideration. The real baptism of fire will come very soon, writes Urheilu’s Jussi Vainikka.
Jussi Vainikka sports reporter
14:59•Updated 15:10
– Hi, hi!
Danish Jacob Friisin the name was hardly on the bingo card of very many when it comes to the selection of Huuhkaji’s head coach.
However, Friis was the one who greeted the media in the Olympic Stadium and the spectators at the televisions in Finnish.
And above all, performed convincingly. He started his speech by joking about the difficulty of the Finnish language, and there were plenty of humorous asides in a steady stream during the event.
The first impression was sturdy and well thought out. There’s not much more he can do at this point. It is clear that the answer to the most pressing questions about the coaching team or the details of the way of play does not yet exist.
The work starts in earnest at the end of January, and the real measure will be right in front of us in March, when the World Cup qualifiers begin with away matches against Malta and Lithuania.
The eyes of many are fixed on the fact that Friis will arrive as head coach from the position of assistant coach in the Bundesliga. He has experience as a head coach “only” in the Danish league, which is, however, undeniably the toughest of the Nordic leagues.
It’s true that Friis’s head coaching experience, measured in years, isn’t the widest on paper, but does it need to be? Raising the small club Viborg to the top of Denmark’s high-quality main league is a hard work.
For example, he was chosen as the head coach of the Danish national team in the fall Brian Riemerwho before the selection had experience as a head coach for two seasons in the big Belgian club Anderlecht.
The essential thing is that Friis has been seen as the best option among the possible candidates through the recruitment process of the Football Association and the related analysis. He also really wanted a job like Augsburg’s sporting director by Michael Ströll comments on Sunday showed.
And on the other hand, the Balloliitto also wanted it, because Friis had to pay out of his contract with Augsburg that lasted until the end of the season.
Friis gave the impression of his very human nature and spoke about the importance of family: family first, football only then.
Friis has proven this in his career. He left the position of Aalborg’s head coach at one time when his daughter became seriously ill. Now the family is moving from Germany back to Denmark.
Friis becomes the second Danish head coach in the history of the Finnish men’s national team. Already deceased Richard Moller Nielsen won the European Championship as Denmark’s head coach in the summer of 1992 and continued his career as Finland’s head coach a few years later.
The world of football has changed so much in 30 years that there is no point in dreaming about former equally internationally meritorious head coaches. President of the Football Association Ari Lahti did not hide the fact that the budget is limited at the announcement event.