Tihi has played in Pikkuhuuhkaj for three years already, but he has not made a decision regarding the A national team. Morocco’s great success in the World Cup weighs in the balance.
STOCKHOLM. Huvudsta’s land-based swimming pool on the shore of Lake Mälaren is quiet under a thin blanket of snow. Here Robin Tihi says that he swam every summer since he was a little boy.
Solna also started playing football at the age of 5. He got an inkling of his abilities when he joined Stockholm’s big club AIK at the age of 12.
The professionalism was still not crystal clear.
– I haven’t decided, it just happened. I have always loved football, played with friends and trained a little more than others.
A lot has happened. The first minutes in the ranks of AIK already came in the 2020 season. For the season that ended, Tihi was loaned to the promotion team Värnamoho, where the season went well. Tihi played in the opening and accumulated plenty of minutes.
Now the Swedish main series Allsvenskan is on hiatus and Tihi hopes to return to the ranks of his own club.
– Of course. It has been my dream since I was a little boy. I want to be a regular player in AIK.
I feel like going to even bigger stadiums, to teams playing in the Champions League. Of the leagues, the English Premier League would be the most attractive.
Malinen attracted to the U21 team
In the summer of 2020 – in the middle of the corona epidemic – the then head coach of the national youth team Juha Malinen traveled to Sweden to meet Tihi and her Finnish mother. The discussions went well, at the end of it, hands were clapped and Robin Tihi became the U21 team’s topper.
At the same time, the Portuguese coach João Aroso attracted Tih to the Moroccan youth national team.
– I tried to get him to Morocco, but he chose Finland. There are a lot of quality players in Morocco, to be honest, I think I would have had three quality starting lineups in the U20 national team, Aroso recalls.
Tihi had time to play in the Swedish boys’ national team. He put on the blue and white shirt in the fall of 2020. He will only turn 21 next year, which means that Tihi will have time to play in Pikkuhuuhkaj for four years.
Plenty of minutes have been accumulated even in the little ones. Malinen praises the credit topper’s game intelligence and quick feet.
Before long, it will be decided whether he wants to represent Finland as an adult. There is no answer to that yet.
– I haven’t thought that much because I’m still an U21 player. I think I will play for the U21 team next year. We’ll see.
Another option is Morocco, where Tihi’s father is from. The World Cup went wonderfully for Morocco, and Tihi admits that it matters when making the selection.
Tihsi may therefore become a player who has played in the national teams of three different countries. After the first official adult national match, the selection can no longer be changed.
The future Helmari may also be coming home. Like a big brother, a little sister Bianca plays soccer in AIK and has represented Sweden in the girls’ national team.
Raised by three cultures
Robin Tihi is solidly raised in three cultures. He was born and raised in Sweden, attended a Finnish-language school in Stockholm and often visited his father’s homeland, Morocco.
Tihi says that she is a mixture of all cultures. The father has got the looks and the mother has the Finnish guts. Swedishness in him is represented by the word lagom, he is neither too calm nor too energetic, but suitable for a “lagomist”.
Swedish is spoken at Tih’s home and he only goes to Finland on game trips.
When traveling abroad, you take your passport with you: Tihi’s passport has a blue cover and says Suomi Finland.