HJK has a special starting point for an emotional match – the head coach identified with skier Remi Lindholm’s pain | Sport

HJK plays its last home game of the year on Thursday night, when it hosts Aberdeen from Scotland in the Conference League group stage.

The Greek club PAOK and Eintracht Frankfurt have already secured a further place in the group, so HJK and Aberdeen are playing for glory and prize money. HJK ends the Conference League as a guest of PAOK on December 14.

However, there is enough feeling in the work. It was already said that Perparim Hetemaj’n career ends this season. Roope Risk moves to Ilves and Aleksi Paananen AC to Oulu.

HJK has also informedthat those who joined me in the summer transfer window Niko Hämäläinen, Filip Rogic and Christopher Da Gracan time in the Club ends. Big promise Matti Peltola moves abroad.

In addition, the match is the head coach Toni Korkeakunnense the last in front of HJK’s home crowd, because at the beginning of next year the Spaniard will take over Ferran Sibila.

HJK played its previous match on November 9, when Frankfurt claimed a 1–0 victory over Töölö. The game break has therefore accumulated for three weeks.

The winter weather has also affected the match. Five degrees of frost has been promised for Thursday night.

– Our starting points are not the easiest of all. There has been training in the middle of Hange, and there have been no competitive matches, Korkeakunnas reflected on Wednesday.

However, the head coach pointed out that the team has been in a happy situation; more than 20 healthy players available throughout the training period.

– Last Friday, an internal, real match was played. Everyone wants to play in these games, and I haven’t given out any free tickets to the lineup until now, so the boys played with good heart and attitude, Korkeakunnas beamed.

When Aberdeen and HJK met in Scotland on October 5, the match ended in a 1-1 draw. He was responsible for HJK’s goal Bojan Radulovic In the 59th minute, but the home team Bojan Miovski equalized in the 79th minute.

– We felt that we could, and should, have won in Aberdeen. We were the better team for a large part of the game. Now we all have a strong desire to show and win the last home game, to say a triumphant farewell.

At the press conference, representatives of Skottimedia asked Korkeakunnas what the last home match at the helm of HJK ​​means. Korkeakunnas responded by first reminding that he lives 300 meters from the stadium.

– Of course it means a lot. I haven’t been in this position that long, but I have a special relationship with the fans. In addition, this will probably be the last HJK home match for one third of the team.

Korkeakunnas identified with Lindholm’s pain

At Wednesday’s press conference, Korkeakunnas was also asked how much preparation required for playing in cold weather, for example in terms of physical training and equipment.

– After all, we’ve all read the boy from Loviisa Remi Lindholm of pain. I can relate because I’m from the same villages, Korkeakunnas joked.

Skier Remi Lindholm made international headlines after the Beijing Winter Olympics in 2022, when he revealed that his private parts were frozen during the 50-kilometer royal race, in freezing conditions.

Last weekend, Lindholm had the same problem again, when Ruka had enough of the cold in the men’s 20 km joint start race.

Lindholm had worn boxers and underpants under his competition outfit, even though underpants with better protection against the wind would be available.

So after the race, Lindholm complained to the writing press that his penis froze again.

– It’s bad, it’s bad. It was and still is pretty numb, Lindholm stated, among other things According to Iltalehti.

Korkeakunnas said that first of all, dressing is important in cold conditions, and the weather has demanded adaptation from the team, including in training.

The head coach praised his team’s attitude.

– They have adapted well, last morning today I praised the boys for it. There has been some grumbling that why don’t we practice inside. I said that “when we don’t play inside”. Maybe this is a bigger advantage for us, because the game day doesn’t look terribly warm either. However, we are used to the field, because the surface is really slippery when it’s cold.

Even normally, HJK gets a competitive advantage from the artificial turf of its home stadium. HJK’s other opponents in the Conference League play on natural grass.

– We know that it is difficult for all opponents to play in such conditions and on this platform. We have to make the most of it, HJK’s goal stick Radulovic also said.

Radulovic saw that HJK will give an equalizer due to their long break. On the other hand, the Serbian striker reminded that Aberdeen may be more tired, as the team faced the big club Rangers on Sunday (1-1 draw).

The Scottish journalist was amazed

Editor of Aberdeen’s local media, the Evening Express Ryan Cryle has already distributed a lot of material from Helsinki. According to him, 1,500 Aberdeen supporters will arrive at Töölö.

Cryle has also brought up the winter conditions in his publications of the X service. He announced that he bought the first thermal coat of his life for the trip to Helsinki.

– They weren’t joking! Cryle wrote to accompany his video, which showed snowy Helsinki as the plane landed.

The Scottish reporter was likely referring to HJK’s previous social media post welcoming Aberdeen, recalling the result of winter and saying the temperature in the arena was -11 degrees.

The match between HJK and Aberdeen on Thursday 30.11. at 7:45 p.m. Urheilu follows the events on its website.