Alfie Cicale of VPS convinces in the Veikkausliiga, Ilves surprises in the National League. Read the talking points of football week and vote for the goal of the week, you can win a product prize!
Vaasa’s Palloseura entered the new week at the top of the Veikkausliiga league. The unbeaten streak in the league that started last July is still continuing. Saturday’s home win against Gnistan was the team’s 20th consecutive unbeaten match.
What makes the achievement even wilder is that the people of Vaasa have won no less than 18 of these matches. The previous defeat came last Midsummer!
During the season, VPS was a mystery, because the team changed a lot during the winter. On the other hand, coaching is Jussi Nuorelan at the helm remained the same, while elsewhere in the league the head coach roulette got hot during the winter.
Already last season, VPS was successful in the transfer market. For example, the Nigerian striker Peter Michael couldn’t stop scoring after getting up to speed, and after the season he was sold to Romania.
Now VPS seems to have hit a gold mine again. Especially a winger with an English and Italian passport Alfie Cicale, 22, has made a difference. In Saturday’s Gnistan match, he was unstoppable with the ball and scored two of VPS’ goals. The strong Cicale could have had more power in one-on-one situations.
– He has been confusingly good, and not just in the last match. He has made a big impression, what kind of pass he chooses and gives depending on the situation, for example to the back area. Maintaining high technical quality from performance to performance has been impressive, Urheilu’s expert Henry Aalto says on the 11 friends podcast.
Cicale is a special player because there is almost no information about him on the internet. For example In the Transfermarkt statistics service Matches played in VPS are the only entries for Cicale.
VPS bulletin according to Cicale has played in Norwich’s junior academy and most recently in Oxford’s university team. As a test player, he has visited, among other things, TPS, which plays lower down the league ladder.
– I think it’s incredibly cool that you can find diamonds like that. If you can’t find anything on the internet, then Finland is probably a great springboard and a place to move forward. It is important that there are foreign reinforcements who really want to be here. The scouting department has done a good job, Urheilu’s expert Paulus Arajuuri says.
National league: Ilves assures contrary to expectations
Two rounds of the national league are behind us and Ilves is unexpectedly basking at the top of the standings. In the opening round at the new Tammela stadium, Honka fell in front of more than 1,400 spectators, and last weekend Ilves stole the points as a guest of perennially successful Åland United.
– Ilves has made the pieces of the game fall into place at just the right time. The training season was not so flattering. It is clearly visible that the players know how to play and do not push attacks, but dare to recycle all the way down if they cannot advance. They try to move the opponent smartly and are able to get under the press in tight spaces, Urheilu’s expert Essi Sainio says.
– I am positively surprised by how Ilves plays really collectively. It is worth noting how they defend their own goal. Especially against Åland, you could see how everything is thrown in the way, whatever they can to protect their own goal.
Sainio believes that Ilves’ playing backbone will enable good results in the future. Taking down Åland United in particular was a strong example Anssi Ylinen from the coached group.
This season, the National League is particularly brutal, because due to the series format change waiting around the corner, the three worst teams will be relegated to the First. That’s why a point-rich start to the season is particularly important. Sainio rated Ilves eighth before the start of the season.
– If I could make the league table prediction again, I would raise Ilves higher. It’s nice to be wrong, and it’s great that Ilves doesn’t match at all how I ranked them in the league table.
With Tammela’s new stadium, Ilves’ conditions are the best in the series. They give evidence that Ilves, known as a strong junior club, could in the long run grow from a breeding club into a real contender for the top of the league table.
– Ilves will certainly be a very attractive club in the future if they are able to maintain their level and above all keep their own good players. Resources are also needed for the salary side, says Sainio.
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