KuPS and Åland United meet on Saturday night in the top match of the National League. League number one KuPS has been in a strong mood in recent games.
In the national league, the top match between KuPS and Åland United will be played on Saturday. KuPS goes into it with a six-point lead, but has played one match more.
KuPS has been in a good mood lately. It has played the last three away matches, in which it beat PK-35 3–0 and HJK 4–0 in the league games, and in between in the Finnish Cup, it beat Åland United 2–0.
KuPS defender chosen as player of the month for July Anni Hartikainen told Urheilu that the team will get to the top match in a good situation.
– Really confident feelings, especially after these two matches, when we have dominated against two tough opponents. We are going to play our own ball control game and tire the opponent in the same way as last Saturday. You have to be really satisfied with the games of recent times, Hartikainen said.
KuPS’s game coughed up especially in May, when it lost to both HJK and Åland United. However, they are the only losses of the season. Recently, the game has really gone and the top spot in the series is now firmly in the hands of the people from Kuopio.
Played for Åland United in the World Cup Jacqueline Hand has returned to Åland and may play in the top game. It does not excite Hartikai any more.
– He is a good player, but they have other good players. With our own game, we can easily handle that match as well.
Foreign countries are interesting
Hartikainen, who turns 20 this month, has played so well that he was chosen as the National League’s July player. He scored two league goals in July. Hartikainen feels that he has developed as a player.
– Especially after the change of coach, that kind of playing courage has come back. The whole team dares to implement things on the field more. A large part of the selection belongs to the teammates. When the team is doing well, individuals stand out.
Pauliina Miettinen started as the head coach of KuPS at the end of May after being on sick leave Ollipekka Ojalan in place of.
Hartikainen was also able to join Helmari in the summer. He was part of the squad that faced Iceland and Scotland.
– It’s a really big deal. It’s been a dream and a goal since I was little and it came faster than I could have imagined. I got a taste of that activity and now I want to continue participating in the camps.
After this season, Hartikainen may well head abroad.
– There would be wishes, but the options are really open. There are always some adjustments, but I want to play until the end of this season first with KuPS, and only then will I start thinking more about next season.
Hartikainen has a favorite option in mind.
– A pretty easy step would be to go to Sweden. It’s a natural place and wouldn’t be such a big culture shock.
This week’s big news was that HJK’s women’s team will operate as its own limited company in the future. More than one million euros in funding has already been collected for it. HJK is KuPS’s fierce competitor, but Hartikainen certainly thinks the news is good in the big picture.
– That’s a really good thing. It’s good that other than KuPS have woken up to moving under Oy. We have to hope that even more will wake up to the same thing and we can move women’s fut forward that way.
In KuPS, women’s league football moved under Kuopio Palloseura Oy in 2019.