Panu Autio, the long-time captain of the national futsal team, thinks it’s special the way Sergio Gargelli came out about leaving Jani Korpela and Miika Hosio out of the national team.
In Urheilu’s 11 friends soccer podcast, the futsal team’s special December international match window is reviewed. What is behind the exclusion of Jani Korpela and Miika Hosio? Why did Armenia not come to the qualifying game in Vantaa? And why didn’t Finland get the sport’s upcoming European Championships? Presenter Jussi Vainika’s questions are answered by expert Panu Autio and Urheilu’s editor Samu Saatsi.
The Finnish futsal team is about to face Portugal in its last game of the elite round of the World Cup qualifiers.
The national futsal team most likely already has a place in the playoffs of the World Cup qualifiers already in its pocket. In the last game on Friday, December 15, however, if Portugal wins, Finland even has a chance to directly qualify for the competition.
Finland had to face Armenia in Vantaa in their last game of the original match schedule in December. However, the Armenian national team refused to arrive in Finland.
Read more about Finland’s World Cup chances and Armenia’s refusal: The opponent’s blunt announcement created a special situation for the futsalmen – a possible World Cup spot requires confirmation from the cabinet
The national team has been bubbling internally as well. Finland’s head coach Sergio Gargelli left the national team’s captain’s armband out of his national matches in December Jani Korpelan and leading Finland’s domestic paint exchange Miika Hosion. The selections were surprising, as the two have been among Finland’s key players for a long time and are fit to play.
In an interview with Urheilu, Gargelli told his reasons for leaving the players out of the national team.
– The answer is simple. I demand commitment from all players and team members to certain values and principles. At the moment, he does not follow the values of the national team and, above all, of the group, Gargelli said about Jani Korpela.
– That is why he is not in the team in the next match. This kind of thing can happen in sports, and it won’t be the first or the last time.
Gargelli also confirmed in the interview that Miika Hosio is missing from the national team for the same reason.
Urheilu reached both Korpela and Hosio. Korpela commented before the interview with the head coach that he did not want to comment on the selection issue, but said that he was in full game condition. Hosio did not want to comment on the words and choices of the head coach.
Panu Autio: “It’s special that guys are thrown under the bus in this way”
The former long-time captain of the Finnish national futsal team and a domestic legend of the sport Panu Autio visited Urheilu’s 11 friends football podcast, where he went through his own thoughts about what happened. After his national team career ended in 2022, Autio has worked as ‘s futsal expert. Autio is currently also working as the executive director of the Football Players Association (JPY).
Autio is surprised by the way Gargelli brought up the matter at hand.
– This is a really interesting situation. It’s strange that dudes are thrown under the bus like this, Autio begins.
– I don’t want to compare this to any other cases (directly), but I hope that this isn’t some new ball-friendly coaching line in the national teams, that first the players are thrown out of the team and then they get slammed in the media. I would be particularly interested to know what are the values, principles and commitment that the players did not implement in this case, according to the coach’s point of view, Autio reflects.
Autio emphasizes that the matter is also internal to the team, because the values have also been defined among the team.
The former national team captain played for many years with Hosio and Korpela in the same national team. According to his own words, he has not received an image of either of them as a very annoying or difficult player.
– I myself have come to know them as damn good team players who are ready to put themselves in front of the gang and commit to work. I don’t think there’s been a huge change in that over the year I haven’t been on the same team with them anymore.
Head coach Gargelli previously commented to that he doesn’t see any problems with team spirit.
– I think the spirit is good. One of the aspects of my job is to keep the team spirit good. I don’t think there are any problems, Gargelli said.
Autio believes that there is probably some friction between the players and the coaching at the moment.
– In my opinion, the communication between the coaching staff and the players does not seem to have been good enough to lead to such a situation.
Urheilu’s 11 friends football podcast always appears on Tuesdays. Listen to all episodes here.
Story edited on December 12, 2023 at 4:25 p.m.: Information added to the story that Panu Autio works as executive director of the Football Players Association.