On Thursday, the Finnish women’s futsal team ended the Salo tournament with a 5–1 victory over Sweden. The figure of the match was the futsal team’s all-time top scorer Tiia Juntikka, who embellished his goal tally with a hat trick. There are now 17 goals.
– It’s always nice to beat Sweden. It was great to be successful as a team and it was great that I managed to score a goal as well, Juntikka talked.
Finland opened the tournament with a 2–5 loss against Italy, and eventually finished second in the three-country tournament.
The matches secured Finland for the World Cup qualifiers starting in the fall, which are the first ever for women. In December 2022, the international football association Fifa decided to organize a World Cup for women as well. Women have been playing for the European championship since 2019.
– We have been waiting a long time to add more games. The European Championships are quite small, when only four teams make it to the actual final tournament. It’s great to have more prestigious competitions, it also brings more visibility to the sport and more motivation for everything.
Juntikka estimates that Finland remains very close to the top of the world. As one of the worst opponents, he names Sweden, which on Thursday almost crashed, even though the previous encounters have been even.
– Portugal, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, that’s where we come from. On a good day we can win one of these, but we still need ball security, individual skills and experience in tough games.
Back to Tornio
Juntikka gained more experience in hard games from the beginning of the season, when he played in Italy’s premier league.
31-year-old Juntikka managed to achieve almost everything in Finnish futsal before deciding to accept Lazio’s contract offer last summer. While playing in Finland, he had worked full-time in a fast food restaurant, but it was different in Italy.
In Rome, Juntikka trained professionally every day.
– The Italians breathed futsal, and I breathed it myself. It was great to focus only on eating and resting and on being in the tikis, training and ready for the games, Juntikka begins.
However, the time was not only free. Juntika still didn’t speak Italian, and the coaches didn’t speak English. Teammates who knew both languages interpreted the most important ones.
– It was a bit difficult to absorb Italy at such a fast pace, which would have been the need.
Juntikka got to experience the finest and most rugged aspects of professionalism right away.
– At the beginning of January, I was put up for sale, the coach said, because of my language skills and communication. I got some role, playing time and confidence, but of course I would have liked more.
Juntikka would have had the opportunity to continue playing in Italy, as another Italian club was interested in him. However, he chose Tornio.
– At that point, I didn’t want to leave anymore. I then went back to Finland to fight to keep the league place. We are in last place. I guess I was a little homesick, but this time this choice was better.
Juntikka had to wait for transfer papers from Italy for three weeks before he finally got to play for the Tornoi team. Immediately in his first match, FTK-Tornio, who came out on top of the series, got his first win of the season. Juntikka scored the winning goal for his team.
The team from Torni must win all three of their remaining matches in the regular season, and staying in the series is still not certain. The next match is ahead on Saturday, when the people of Torni face FC Haliko at home.
– We are going to play one game at a time. We’re trying to play our best game, I know that’s enough. It depends on the little things, when you get a good feeling for the team, Juntikka commented.
Although the visit to Italy did not go as planned, Juntikka has not completely abandoned the idea of returning abroad.
– But yes, I could ask about language skills and background information. I don’t want to leave in the mood for a trip anymore!