Huuhkajat remained patient and pushed away big away points from Kazakhstan in the European football qualifiers. Urheilu’s expert Miika Nuutinen raised three topics from the match.
On Thursday, the Finnish men’s national football team took an important away victory over Kazakhstan in the EC qualifiers. The away game, which was previously estimated to be difficult, was resolved by Oliver Antman to the goal in the 78th minute.
Sports expert Miika Nuutinen raised three essential things from the match.
1) An evening of large premises
Until now, Kazakhstan had performed strongly in the qualifiers, but against Finland, its vulnerability was clearly visible. The Finnish players sometimes had space on the green like an airport runway.
– This was an evening of big spaces. Before the game, there was talk that Kazakhstan has improved its defensive game, but the team was anything but compact. Huhukjat was able to advance a lot between the last lines of Kazakhstan. The termination of the attacks was not as high-quality as it could have been, says Nuutinen.
The problems of Kazakhstan’s defense were especially clearly visible at the hour mark after Finland’s possession of the ball. Huhkajat was able to counterattack with four against four. The Kazakh players who were left with the ball leisurely jogged towards the defense.
– An hour played, the game 0–0 and in no way resolved. It is absolutely not permissible to have four defenders in such a situation. It almost suited Finland better that Kazakhstan had more of the ball. Kazakhstan had big gaps between the players during the construction phase, Urheilu’s expert Markus Halsti comment on the situation in the studio.
– Kazakhstan was not very organized, but quite an undisciplined team. When passed, there was sometimes no defending at all. Kazakhstan’s players were left walking after losing the ball, which opened up a lot of wave-like attacks for Huuhkaji. There could have been more goals, Nuutinen estimated.
See below for an illustrative example of Kazakhstan’s lazy defending and the big spaces it leaves behind.
2) Chaotic image of the game
The first period of Astana’s night was chaotic football. The poor artificial turf certainly played a part in this. Losses of the ball occurred on both sides without a decent press.
– Finland did not find the best rhythm for its own ball-playing. “Kazakhstan makes the picture of the game sensitively like this, because they try to advance a lot with long balls,” says Nuutinen.
The keys to victory were found in Huuhkajie’s pocket in the second period, when peace was found in the ball game.
– Huuhkajat took control of the flow of the game and progressed more through long, organized attacks. The goal was really well built in a chaotic game. A controlled advance into the spaces that the Kazakh defense kept leaving.
3) Profit
The three points were the most important gift of the match for the Huuhkajs – that’s self-evident. A winning streak of four matches without conceding a single goal is, on the other hand, a performance that is rare in Finnish football history. The men’s national team’s longest winning streak in European Championship qualifiers is five in the qualifiers for the 1996 European Championship.
– There are scoundrels Markku Kanervan managed to systematically score points from weaker opponents in advance. This was basically a difficult away game. Now it’s easy to go play on Sunday against Denmark in a full Olympic Stadium and aim for points.
In Thursday night’s other matches, Denmark beat San Marino 4–0 and Slovenia beat Northern Ireland 4–2. Before Sunday’s matches, the situation is as follows: Finland 12 points, Denmark and Slovenia 10, Kazakhstan 9, Northern Ireland 3 and San Marino 0.
Each team has played five matches, so the European Championship qualification is halfway through.
On Sunday, Finland meets Denmark in the European Championship qualifying match in Helsinki at 19:00. The live broadcast starts on TV2 and Areena at 18:15.
23.3. Denmark–Finland 3 to 1
26.3. Northern Ireland–Finland 0–1
16.6. Finland–Slovenia 2–0
19.6. Finland–San Marino 6–0
7.9. Kazakhstan–Finland 0–1
Sun 10.9. at 19 Finland–Denmark
Sat 14.10. at 19 Slovenia–Finland
Tue 17.10. at 19 Finland–Kazakhstan
Fri 17.11. at 19 Finland–Northern Ireland
Mon 20.11. at 21:45 San Marino–Finland
The best two of the group will qualify for the summer 2024 European Championships, which will be played in Germany.
shows all Huuhkajie’s qualifying matches live.