All that was left of the European Championship dream of the Finnish men’s national football team were crushed shells on the turf of Cardiff City Stadium. Wales defeated Huuhkajat on Thursday evening with 4–1 goals and marched to the EC further qualification final.
Finland’s great and exceptional opportunity went to pieces in Wales’ handling. Huuhkajat was a clear runner-up in the struggle, and despite one important narrowing goal, couldn’t get their game back on track.
Urheilu’s football expert Miika Nuutinen comments in this story on three big factors that happened in Finland in the most important possible place.
1. Defense of special situations
Finland was plagued by weak defense in special situations throughout the EC qualifiers. For example, in one of the decisive home games of the fall against Kazakhstan, the sky fell on the neck precisely because of special situations.
Now against Wales, the ride was even colder.
The home team was known as an excellent team in special situations, whose main play power, long boundary throws and ability to finish were clearly on display beforehand. Finland was still a solid opponent in almost every special situation, which was seen in the match given by Wales.
And there weren’t a lot of them, but the result was harsh: two goals from free kicks and one corner kick rejected by VAR.
Since the theme was throughout the EC qualifiers, it’s time for the reporter to ask.
Is it finally time for Finland to get a special situation coach?
– I think it doesn’t matter if Finland needs a single coach focused on special situations or if it’s someone from the coaching team. However, the end result should be that Huuhkaji should be better, expert Nuutinen begins.
– It’s a fact that a football country the size of Finland cannot give its opponents such an equalizer when playing in special situations, especially when defending them. That balance is sad. Although there was a great free-kick goal in the match and one goal disallowed, Wales’ shots are bitter and their play in those looked too easy.
In Nuutinen’s opinion, Huuhkajie’s special situation defense left too many question marks. After the first duel, exceptional spaces opened up for Wales to score goals. This was especially emphasized in Wales’ 3–1 goal.
– Even if the players have special skills in a special situation, it is still a collective action. This is certainly something that is now being looked at critically through the eyes of coaching and we are thinking about how to change this.
2. The clichéd meaning of the opening goal
The always-clichéd opening goal turned out to be an exceptionally decisive factor in Huuhkajie’s European championship dream sinking to the ground.
– Both teams are at their best when they can defend their lead and attack. When Wales came wildly into the opening period, it also got a suitable game image for itself, Nuutinen reflects.
– Although it is a clichéd meaning of the opening goal, in this match it set all the starting points. It was a lot about the goodness of Wales, but also a lot about Finland not being at their sharpest.
According to Nuutinen, Finland’s napping cost a lot. The opening goal came from a follow-up ball that ran away from its guards David Brooks blanked the game tool. Followed him Rasmus Schuller did something extraordinary: he walked after Brooks.
– It was unschüller-like. The fact that he didn’t follow the player advancing to the goal post is not like him. At the same time, the first goal changed the script of the entire match, Nuutinen describes.
3. Trust your own story
Many months to prepare. That’s what the Finnish soccer people were thinking about when it was known that Finland would advance to the EC further qualification in the fall. Still, the “own thing team” won.
– Wales didn’t do anything surprising. It did what it did in its previous games. It banked on its speed, especially in its top three players. They were always dangerous and Finland was in trouble, which is why I think I have to take my hat off to the home team, Nuutinen opens.
Wales was able to be in control for almost the entire match completely on their own. Although the Finnish coaching staff had had a lot of time to prepare, Wales did not surprise at all.
– Finland was not able to hide the strengths of its opponent. It highlights just how high Wales’ performance is when it comes to playing their own way. Still, often “match plan thinking” gets too much space.
Nuutinen says that during the European Championship qualifiers, Finland changed its template and approach to the match many times depending on its opponent. Finding your own strengths would also be really important.
However, he does not feel that several months of preparation meant that it should have guaranteed a different result.
– However, it is a relative matter. Of course, there were many months to look and plan, but the team had less than a week to polish things on the field. That’s a pretty short amount of time in the end games.