Pikkuhuhkajat defeated Armenia in the last European Championship qualifying match of the year with a historic 6–0 score. Topi Keskinen and Otso Liimatta, who were on the edge of Huuhkaji, waved the pace stick in victory.
Samu Saatsi,
Juuso Koskinen
In the dark night of Turku, we saw a crushing performance from Pikkuhuuhkaj, when the Finnish men’s under-21 team beat Armenia by no less than 6-0 at home.
The team, which performed in show style, made a page in the history of the national team at the same time.
The previous biggest victory in the history of the Finnish U21 team came no less than 28 years ago, when in 1995 San Marino also fell with a score of 6–0. The U21 national team’s goal record is an 8–3 win over Norway from 2019.
The Liimatta-Keskinen duo was poison for Armenia
Finland entered the match sharp. Pikkuhuhkajat started scoring goals against group jumbo Armenia in the 25th minute of the match, representing FC Famalicao in the Portuguese premier league Take Liimatan through the agency of. The hit for Liimata was already fifth in the EC qualifiers.
Finland’s second goal was a wonderful individual performance from a player who played in the Veikkausliiga last season during his breakthrough season at HJK Top from Keski. The winger, known for his speed, raced through the entire field and finished with a fantastic shot into the top corner past the Armenian keeper of Gor Matinyan.
The goal got ‘s commentator Brother of Engström to sizzle with enthusiasm.
– Herrnpieksut, what a goal! Engström glowed.
You can see the hit from the main picture of this article.
Keskinen himself smiled calmly after the match, when he got to talk about his goal.
– It’s quite nice to gather speed from down there and then be able to challenge the defenders. Then let’s go. The shot hit the spot, Keskinen described his goal.
In the second half, the same Finnish duo wreaked havoc again. First, Keskinen completed Finland’s 3-0 goal from Liimata’s pass and just two minutes later Juho Talvitie showed the striking ability of his left foot, again from Liimata’s pass.
At the end of the match Kai Meriluoton and Matti Peltolan hits put the finishing touches on an overwhelming performance.
See the goal summary from the match:
The crushing victory also pleased Keski, but did not cause a great outburst of emotion.
– The beginning of the second half was maybe a bit sloppy, but otherwise we can be satisfied with this, Keskinen stated without even flinching.
In the match, Finland washed its face from the practice match against Sweden played last week. In that, the western neighbor took Finland by the liter, and the numbers 0–3 even flattered Little Huhkaji.
– “Bana” said after that game that “don’t take a model from this game, let’s forget this”. That’s what we did, we didn’t think about it anymore but focused on our new opportunity, Keskinen recounted the team’s discussions after the away game.
The Sweden defeat was quickly forgotten
The head coach Mika Lehkosuo beamed his satisfaction in the post-game interview.
– Well, it’s a good time, we were good today on that field! “Bana” began the interview.
When the head coach was asked about the Sweden match that went wrong, he threw his answer as a joke.
– Which Sweden game? I don’t even remember that, Lehkosuo grumbled.
– We gathered a good spirit for this game and the players have done a lot of right things during this camp. They showed today how ready they really were.
According to Lehkosuo, the team’s greatest place for development is to transfer the successes achieved against equal or weaker opponents to the field against better opponents during the fall.
– We have actually crushed those who are weaker than us or of the same level. We have to work better against tougher opponents and also get a result against them.
The match was Finland’s fourth in the qualifying phase. The qualifiers for the little ones will continue next year with six matches.