Essi Sainio told ‘s EC studio how he had to miss the last games of his career because of card gambling.
There are exciting stakes in the final round of the first group of the European Football Championship. The rankings of Denmark and Slovenia were finally decided on Tuesday with disciplinary points given for warnings and time-outs. On Wednesday, the rankings can even be decided by penalty kicks or even based on the EC ranking.
There has been talk of a possible match between Romania and Slovakia, as a draw would take both of them to the next round.
Finnish football icon, Urheilu expert, Essi Sainio told in the EM studio how badly card games can go wrong. Sainio recalled his own experiences after the 2022 European Championship, when he quickly missed a short break in the series season in Finland, which continued after the Games.
He had played one match after the European Championships and agreed with the head coach of HJK at the time Jonne Kunnasen with that he would still play in the next match and then get to take a week’s vacation.
– I don’t know who counted and what counted. I probably miscalculated. But I took an extra card in the game before my break. It then led to the threat that if I got another card I would either not play the last home game of my career or the last game of my career. It went really wrong, Sainio, who ended his illustrious career at the end of 2022, described.
The second chapter was how Sainio took a deliberate card to dig up a suspension to be served during his own vacation.
– It’s still embarrassing. The opponent’s player had a sideline throw. I went to knock the ball out of his hand. Even the judge saw that the act was intentional and a card had to be given for it. I was like “yes, thanks”, Sainio said.
Analysis manager at Gracenote statistical company Simon Gleave reminded also in X, that “fixed game situations” like Slovakia and Romania have not automatically meant a suitable result for both teams.
In the three previous times in a similar situation (both can advance by playing a certain result), only once has this happened. According to Gleave, a draw is the most likely result for Slovakia and Romania, but its probability is less than 50 percent.