Matti Peltola. The name is so common that it doesn’t stick in my mind. However, the actions on the field remain.
Peltola, 20, has made a convincing breakthrough to the best of the Veikkausliiga and has also broken into Huuhkaji. If you want to see Peltola play on home fields, you should hurry to the stands. He will hardly play for long in HJK.
The linen-headed Peltola became a favorite of the Club’s fans last season. The youngster played excellently both in the Veikkausliiga and in the European games and got his own song:
“Masa Peltola, sha-la-la-la-la-la! Mutsi denied the slop, Klubi got a tough guy..”
We will return to muts, or Peltola’s mother, later.
About a year ago, Matti Peltola’s entire football career was threatened. The problems were revealed during HJK’s training.
– During training in the winter, there were situations where my eyes blurred and my heart pounded wildly. I knew that my condition was not that bad, Peltola recalls.
As a first procedure, he was given a special heart rate belt, which was supposed to be used to monitor heart rhythm disturbances. Later, during a light jog, the arrhythmia struck again, and it was measured.
A couple of months later, Peltola was already in Tampere for an operation, which was performed without anesthesia.
– Such a tube was inserted from the groin. I felt that now it goes in the stomach and now it is there in the heart.
– It may sound harsh, but then the heart was poked in such a way that the disorder came again. In this way, the problem could be located and the point where the fault was burned from the heart, Peltola opens.
The young man has already been told about the operation so often that he himself is getting a little tired of it. Fortunately, there is a person nearby who is happy to open up the matter to relatives more.
– My sister Iitu is studying medicine, and he was very excited going through my procedure papers. So he can clarify the matter in much more detail. So it was some kind of cardiac arrhythmia.
Even if it sounds a little scary to an outsider, Peltola’s attitude towards life and adversity is positive.
– In my case, it was nice that the doctors were able to communicate quite quickly that there was no concern about the continuation of my career. Arrhythmias have a five percent chance of recurring, but I personally trust the 95 percent that nothing will happen again, says Peltola.
Various heart problems have regularly surfaced in connection with elite football. In Finland, the matter hit the eyes of the entire nation when Huuhkajat played the opening match of the 2021 European Championship against Denmark in the summer and Christian Eriksen rushed to the field. However, the Dane was able to continue his career, just like Peltola.
You can delve more into the starting points of the Veikkausliiga season, the most interesting players and the discussion about the series’ interest in Finland in the pre-season episode of Urheilu’s podcast. You can listen to the episode on Areena or with the player below.
Matti everywhere
After a difficult start, Peltola’s last season culminated in the Finnish championship and games in the Europa League group stage. He got a lot of playing time in the most important moments of the season. At the same time, the young man’s market value rose to hundreds of thousands of euros.
In HJK, he has played in many different positions in recent seasons, both in the midfield and in the defensive line. He is a coach Toni Koskelan swiss army knife.
If the man could choose, he would play as a top three in a line. It was also basically Peltola’s place last season.
– The role is not as defensive as in the line of two. Able to break the lines with passes and in that way you are also able to defend forward more actively and raise the ball, Peltola enumerates.
Although versatility and understanding of several playing positions are guaranteed to be a plus, it might be better for Peltola’s career the more he can focus on 1-2 playing positions this season.
– I even got to play for Huuhkaji, because someone was needed for exactly that “wrong” playing position. However, I agree that, considering the continuation, it would be better if you could focus on honing a certain playing position and strengths.
At the beginning of the new league season, Peltola got more fans in the chorus when he performed in favor of Huuhkajie in the European Championship qualifier against Northern Ireland at the end of March.
Peltola was thrown in as a left pack and especially in the final moments he confidently played the ball out of the danger zone. Finland won the match 1–0.
– It’s not the idea to do some highlight stuff now. You have to find a balance between what is the right solution and what then goes to the side of stupidity. As a player, it is usual for me to make decisions that perhaps not everyone would make, Peltola opens up about his playing nature and emphasizes that the team’s interest comes first.
The European Championship qualifying game was also the first meaningful national A match for the Helsinki native, so it will be remembered as one of the highlights of his career so far.
– It was a great moment when I realized that I was about to get on the field. Even though the venue was new, it didn’t hurt. In this case, I can say that I got into the left pack, Peltola laughs.
King Litmanen lifted the mood
Peltola’s small dream was to play in Barcelona one day and his favorite player was Lionel Messi. Also Jari Litmanen was a tough thing for him, even though the brightest glory of “Liti” was seen even before Peltola’s year of birth in 2002. The boy was a fan of goal scorers and ball players.
– Sometimes when I was younger, I always watched the movie Kuningas Litmanen on game day, because it made me feel good about football, Peltola reveals.
In addition to football, he scored goals in hockey as a junior in HIFK, of which he still professes to be a fan. On Wednesday, HJK’s league opener and HIFK’s third semi-final game against Tappara coincide.
Although discus is interesting, the choice of sport seems to have finally hit the mark for Peltola as well.
Someone might see a hint of hockey in Peltola’s personality and playing style. He can handle tough twists, like the Huhhkajat star Robin Lod. Lodi also has a hockey background.
But what about the Klubipäädy song?
“Masa Peltola, sha-la-la-la-la-la! Mutsi denied the slop, Klubi got a tough guy..”
What is the truth behind the lyrics?
– I have to defend my mother a little here. He didn’t exactly forbid the rink, but I had already had a few concussions in the rink, and when I was thinking about choosing a sport, he said that at least you won’t stop playing football, laughs Peltola.
The opening round of the Veikkausliiga football season kicks off on Wednesday, April 5 at 18:00. shows HJK–Honka in the intense Metroderby from the opening battles of the season. The live broadcast of the match starts on TV2 and Areena at 18:00, the match kicks off at 18:15.