Take the Glue stirred the Finnish football nation on Friday, when the 19-year-old talent scored a hat-trick for the under-21 national team against Albania. Pikkuhuhkajat celebrated a 4–1 victory in Turku.
At the same time, he has spoken about why Liimatta is not currently with Huuhkajie in the men’s EC qualifiers. This autumn, Liimatta has established his place in the Portuguese premier league in Famalicão’s team. Liimatta has been able to play regularly in the team. He has been in the starting line-up in five of the eight games and only missed two minutes completely.
The main league in Portugal is still at a high level. For example, in the European Football Association’s country points, Portugal is the seventh hardest league in Europe. Country points are accumulated when the country’s club teams are successful in European club team competitions.
Country points are of course only one measure among others, but it gives some sort of picture of the level of the country’s main league as well.
Only the captain of the Huhkaji players Lukas Hradecky regularly plays in the clearly tougher European main league than Liimatta, when he saves balls in Germany in Leverkusen’s goal. In the Dutch Premier League Thomas Lam plays good minutes in the Dutch premier league in Zwolle.
Of course, many also consider England’s second league level, the Championship, among the ten toughest football leagues in Europe. There currently plays regularly in Leed Glen Kamara and in Middlesbrough Marcus Forss.
Liimatta says that he hasn’t talked at all with the coaching management of the under-21s and the head coach of the Huuhkajie Markku Kanervan from playing in the A national team.
– Of course, it would be great to get into the A national team. However, the most important thing for me is that I get to play a lot. Here in the under-21 national team, I get a lot of responsibility, Liimatta describes his thoughts about Huuhkaji to Urheilu.
Recently, many promising Finns have broken through to Huuhkaji at a young age. The most recent examples are Daniel Håkans and Oliver Antman. Håkans is almost four years older than Liimatta and three years older than Antman.
According to Liimata, he is in no rush to get to the A national team.
– If the option is to be on the bench in the A national team and play in the under-21s, I prefer to play here, Liimatta says from Romania in the middle of the under-21s European Championship qualifiers.
According to Liimata, it’s still difficult to say how ready he would be to play in the A national team, because he doesn’t have that experience yet.
On Tuesday, at Huuhkaji’s press conference, head coach Markku Kanerva was also asked about Liimata and his readiness to play for Huuhkaji.
– All the young players are interesting when they give good performances, especially in Pikkuhuuhkaji and also in the club team, Kanerva was content to say and said that he will watch Pikkuhuuhkaji’s matches after analyzing the Huhkajie’s qualifying performance.
The new home town felt like Oulu and the speed in the games has caught my eye
Before leaving Portugal, the 19-year-old from Oulu charmed for a year and a half on the Finnish courts. Already in mid-summer, it was expected that Liimatta would soon move to foreign fields.
The transfer became a reality at the end of July. Portugal and Famalicão were selected because it seemed like the best option for Liimata.
– They really wanted me there. It’s a good training environment and it’s such a tough series, so I can improve a lot, Liimatta states.
The Oulu native is particularly impressed by the conditions in Portugal.
– The training center is really good. You can find everything you need. Halls, cold pool for recovery, breakfasts and lunches. The fields are in top condition, without adhesive tape.
The town itself, Vila Nova de Famalicão, is located in northern Portugal. There are more than 130,000 inhabitants in the city area. Liimata’s birthplace, Oulu, has a population of around 200,000.
It has been nice to move from Liimata to a city like Oulu.
– The city itself is not huge, which is a nice thing. It’s nice to live there, Liimatta describes.
One thing in particular has caught my eye at the games in Portugal. Faster pace. According to Liimata, you have to be at your best every time in Portugal if you want to succeed.
– The game is really fast. We are constantly trying to move forward. There is no slow or recycled ball. We are trying to move forward, Liimatta describes.
In under-21 games, Liimatta also plays against players two years older. That’s why he feels that even the matches of Pikkuuahkaji are hard, and not at all a hindrance to development.
He sees the Pikkuhuhkaji’s chances of reaching the 2025 European Championship in Slovakia as realistic.
– We have a really good gang together. The block is such that it has all the possibilities to continue. We can beat everyone in this group, Liimatta concludes.
In the under-21 European Championship qualifiers, Finland will face Romania in an away match at 18:00. The live broadcast of the match starts at Areena at 17:50. The group winners and the three best group runners-up advance to the European Championships.
The situation of the EC qualifying group for the little ones