The Finnish Football Association gave Markku Kanerva a statement of confidence and a task: Owls to the European Championships 2024. It was a safe, but also the only correct solution, writes Mika Halonen, editor of Urheilun.
16.3. 17:55 • Updated March 16th. 17:56
The man of the covenant is the man of the covenant. Fortunately for the Football Association Markku Kanerva is such.
Today, it was confirmed that the 57-year-old Kanerva’s period in the Finnish national teams will last at least 20 years.
Kanerva moved into the bread of the Football Association in 2004, then to the U21 national team. For the first time in his history, he piloted the Finnish men’s U21 to the championships, the 2009 Swedish European Championships.
After that, Kanerva joined the national team, where he worked as an assistant coach until the end of 2016. Sure, “Rive” sniffed a few times as head coach when Stuart Baxter, Mixu Paatelainen and Hans Backe in turn received a mono. It was only after Backen’s farce-like period that Kanerva was given a real chance.
15.11.2019 is, of course, a day that will not be forgotten. It was confusing to see the number of tears when the dams broke out at Töölö Stadium after the Finnish men secured the first prize-winning place in their history.
Since that celebration, reality has also struck in the face.
When the value races, due to the coronary pandemic a year later, were played in the summer of 2021, Finland was a complete opponent in some places. Finland, of course, fought for the second half of the third group match from the playoffs and surprised the Danish tournament in the opening match, which is not remembered in football.
The match against Russia was the one in which Finland was supposed to have the best chances at the beginning, but the jacket was 0–1. Especially after that match, the coaching received criticism for player substitutions and cautious reaction in the chase. In the European Championships, Finland received one bet per opponent’s goal in each match.
In the World Cup qualifiers played after the European Championships, Finland lost to Ukraine in a particularly weak home game and suffered 0–2 losses to France both at home and away. The place and follow-up qualifiers for the World Championships were a dream come true.
If the Football Association had decided to change coach, the right time would have been right now. Several mental and playful leaders of Kanerva’s group also left the national team after the World Cup qualifiers: Tim Sparv, Paulus Arajuuri and Joona Toivio.
This year, “only” the League of Nations will be played, which has become an interesting part of the football calendar, but there are no qualifiers in the program. The European Championship qualifiers will not start until a year later.
Kanerva’s previous contract still covers this year, and it would make no sense for the coach to be changed then – just below the next qualifiers. If the new coach had jumped on the thong now, he would have had time to get to know the team a full year before the European Championship qualifiers.
But the coach should not be changed. The merits of Kanerva’s coaching team are strong, although there is plenty of distance to Europe’s top level. And now it is precisely the coaching team that Kanerva is leading the group as the lead character.
The players, in turn, have emphasized the atmosphere of the national team – how enjoyable it is to come from a club team to national team trips when it was still mainly a burden six years ago.
On Wednesday, in the information of the Owls, it came to mind that Kanerva is in the job of her dreams. He has talked about interest in club coaching in the past, but hardly very seriously anyway.
Now Kanerva revealed that some kind of questions have come from the club side, but nothing so interesting that he would have seriously thought about it. When Kanerva was asked about his desire to jump into club coaching then in 2024, he turned it around so that if there was success, how would you know it, even if the Owls Wash continued after that.
Kanerva is known internationally, but throughout his career he has been the head coach of the club team for exactly one season, in the Vikings in 2003. It can be a red flag for many European clubs if they have considered a Finnish coach.
Kanerva is hardly interested in starting to build a club team career at the age of 60.
Chairman of the Football Association Ari Lahti announced at an information session in Huuhkajä that the only goal of the next project is to survive to play in the 2024 European Championships in Germany. And Kanerva did not hide her enthusiasm to lead this project – as long as the enthusiasm on the faces of the pedant and the calm class teacher is readable.
The Football Association made a very understandable safe decision. At the same time the right solution. The realization of the next “generational dream” is most likely with a familiar team that all players currently believe in and trust.
The League of Nations this year offers a full year to develop Owners ’offensive play and drive in new players. For Kanerva, it is clearly a project that will make the flame flare up even after a unique year of values.
Kanerva has been accused of conservatism, but at the time of the World Cup qualifiers, he left Cold on the bench and Toivio and Arajuure, who were playing Robert Ivanov and Leo Väisänen.