The Finnish men’s national football team continues its European Championship qualifying routine in front of the home crowd. Slovenia, the only winner of two matches in the group, will face on Friday, while San Marino, found at the bottom of the group, will travel to the Olympic Stadium on Monday.
Group H also features Denmark, Kazakhstan and Northern Ireland.
Slovenia leads the group with a clean sheet
Slovenia leads the group with six points. It beat Kazakhstan and San Marino in March.
The team has found a great mood, as it is on an eight-match unbeaten streak. It’s been more than a year since Slovenia’s last loss, when they lost to Serbia 1-4.
– You can never underestimate the fact that he has taken six points from two matches, although of course the other was against San Marino. In the Kazakhstan match, neither of the teams, neither Kazakhstan nor Slovenia, played very high-quality football. However, I don’t see Slovenia being the group’s early favorite with those expectations, Urheilu’s expert Antti Pohja comment.
However, the team will have to manage without their captain, a defender in Atletico Madrid Jan Oblakwho is still sidelined due to injury.
Slovenia lacks superstars, but the 20-year-old, who will move to RB Leipzig next season, threatens to attack Benjamin Seskowho scored 16 goals in 30 matches for RB Salzburg in the Austrian premier league last season.
– Sesko is probably clearly marked in the papers of the Finnish coaching management. However, he is quite a versatile player who can not only play as a target player with his back to the goal, but also run upright and the ball stays with him nicely. He is a very dangerous top player and difficult to stop, Pohja characterizes.
The last time San Marino visited the Olympic Stadium was in 2010. Thirteen years ago, the country of just over 33,000 inhabitants had to bow to Finland no less than 0-8. Now the team is at the bottom of Fifa’s official ranking list.
It has played 129 international matches without a win.
– It is quite possible that the same thing will happen again, but it will require some kind of leveling up from Finland. The most important thing is a win and three points. San Marino has been assigned the role of a bully in the group. The tempo must be kept high enough so that San Marino as a formation has to move so much that spaces start to be found.
What is Denmark’s mood?
Denmark beat Finland in their opening match, but surprisingly lost to Kazakhstan in Astana, which dropped the group’s pre-favorites to second place. Denmark faces Northern Ireland and Slovenia in the June window.
– Denmark is probably still the favorite to win the group, but if ever, Denmark is also in transition. The Kazakhstan match also showed that they are not in the same situation as, for example, in the European Championships, Pohja begins.
– The win against Finland was partly due to their goodness and especially to the heat by Rasmus Höjlund merit. All in all, in recent years I have seen a very versatile, modern Denmark that, when necessary, presses from high, defends well from low and attacks with versatility. They did the same things, but not with the same quality as in previous years.
Pohja believes that the team might have a little pressure on their necks.
– The game performances have probably not been what the head coach Kasper Hjulmand has been waiting. Höjlund’s goals have saved some, but overall the game is looking for itself a bit.
Kazakhstan bowed out to Slovenia in their European Championship qualifying opener, but showed with their victory over Denmark that they are not a throwaway group. Pohja considers Kazakhstan a challenger team in the group.
– It is possible that they would even fight for the top places in the group, but I might not be the first to put them in a race car. They have had a reputation for a long time that, especially at home, they are able to challenge clearly even bigger ones. They are a solid group that may not have an awful lot of European quality players, but they are committed to their own style of play and defend not only with skill but tenacity. Their trademark is fast, fairly straightforward attacks. Of course, artificial grass also has its own advantages.
Finland claimed a 1–0 victory in Belfast, but Northern Ireland also has three points, as it opened the qualifiers with a victory over San Marino.
– If these teams should be punished after two matches, Kazakhstan and Northern Ireland might be in the same basket and Slovenia and Finland will be the first to challenge Denmark.
After two matches, Pohja sees that the proportions of the group have leveled off.
– The block is a kimurant in the sense that there can be more cross-play. There is not just one team that dominates. There are honestly and truly two top places in the division, which makes the group even more interesting, Pohja predicts.
These questions are interesting for Finland
Finland has three points after two away matches.
One notable absentee from the June qualifiers is suffering from a knee injury Robin Lod. Also Leo Vaisänen and Marcus Forss are on the sidelines. For the first time, the Våleranga striker is on the trip of the A national team Daniel Håkans.
As usual, there is plenty to guess about in the starting line-up.
– Will it rise? Joel Pohjanpalo for the opening, when he has been hot, so to speak, but in certain types of matches in the role of a substitute player, when more defensive players were wanted for the roles? It will be interesting to see how the team groups up and who will be seen in the opening, Pohja begins.
– In the first two matches, we started looking for a game plan that plays well, is active, and dominates the game, which backfired in Denmark. Northern Ireland left a lot of question marks regarding the game. It will be interesting to see if the game will return to a more defensive approach, or if the same will continue as seen in the first two games.
Denmark 19.
Finland 56.
Slovenia 59.
Northern Ireland 62.
Kazakhstan 112.
San Marino 211.
The EC final tournament to be organized in the summer of 2024 will be played in Germany. The teams qualified for the tournament in ten groups, from which the group winners and group runners-up advance directly to the final tournament. In addition, three teams have a chance to reach the games Through the Nations League play-offs. The tournament host, Germany, already has a place in the EC final tournament.
If Finland does not get a place in the European Championship qualifiers, Huuhkajat will be able to participate in the playoffs through the Nations League, if Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia or Scotland get a place in the European Championship qualifiers.
The Finnish men’s national football team will face Slovenia in the EC qualifiers on Friday. The broadcast on TV2 and Areena starts at 18:15.