A Finnish victory in Ljubljana would basically have meant that Markku Kanerva’s team had been able to start planning for an EC summer in 2024. After Saturday’s 0-3 loss away to Slovenia, reaching the European Championship in Germany will be all the trickier.
Benjamin Sesko scored the home team’s opening two goals, both in the first half. The Leipzig striker scored a penalty to make it 1-0 after a quarter of a game and just over ten minutes later he thundered in to make it 2-0 after a quick counterattack.
Finland stepped up the game after the break and both Teemu Pukki and Daniel Håkans had good chances to reduce the visitors’ lead, but Atlético Madrid goalkeeper Jan Oblak stood in the way both times.
Instead, Erik Janza scored 3-0 in extra time. The goal could be very valuable as Slovenia now also have the advantage over Finland in terms of head-to-head meetings, after the Finns won 2-0 in Helsinki last summer.
The victory means that Slovenia remains top of Group H on 16 points with three games left to play. Finland is four points behind, but at the same time has, on paper, an easier end to the qualifiers, including games against the group’s two bottom teams, Northern Ireland and San Marino.
At the same time, Slovenia still has to face both Denmark and Kazakhstan, both of whom are challenging for one of the two European Championship places.
Denmark (13 points before this round) will host Kazakhstan (12 points) later on Saturday evening.