Even last summer Glen Kamaran the situation at the club team level raised a lot of questions. Kamara had stayed at Glasgow Rangers for a short playing time, which also affected his position in the national team. A new place to play was found in the ranks of Leeds, who were relegated from the Premier League to the English Championship at the beginning of the season.
Now that a good two-thirds of the season has been played, it is easy to say that the club selection was a success. Kamara shines in the Leeds midfield from game to game. Leeds have won ten of their previous 12 matches. During the period, the winless matches are the only ones in which Kamara did not play.
Kamara recently became the first player in the Championship Series who has passed more than 95 percent in seven consecutive matches in the measurement history (from the season 2013–14 onwards). The pipe was broken at the weekend in the away win against Plymouth, when Kamara “only†90 percent of the passes clicked to his own team.
– Kamara plays exactly the role in which he is at his best. He finds himself very free and plays the pass for himself. He doesn’t go for a lot of key passes and doesn’t play the ball forward that much, but is always playable. That’s why it’s been at its best in Huuhkaj. Because such pass percentages are explainable, Urheilu’s expert Antti Pohja says.
Pohja characterized Kamara as a ball control player. In Leeds, he gets to play to his full potential.
– Of course, the team is in harmony. There are players around who think about football in roughly the same way. You can make input combinations with them.
It is interesting that there are several Welsh national team players playing in Leeds, whom Kamara will face next month in the European Championship play-offs. Ethan Ampadu, Daniel James, Joe Rodon and Connor Roberts are all likely to be in the Wales squad in March.
Pohja sees the role of Kamara, who is in top form, as one of the most essential things in terms of Huuhkajie’s vital struggle against Wales. For example, in the away match against Slovenia in October, this was not successful, when Kamara played in practice as a left winger.
– He is a hugely important player in those situations when you have to keep your head out of the pressure. Someone could say that his strength is neither attacking nor defending, but he is one of the most important players in the national team in the right role.
Leeds is second in the league in direct promotion to the Premier League. The future prospects are excellent for Kamara, who signed a four-year contract. Leeds played in the Premier League for three seasons before being relegated last spring. Coaching Leeds Teemu Pukin became familiar to Finns as a pilot in Norwich Daniel Farke.
Leeds will face league leader Leicester at home on Friday.
2) Ilves FC – why does the prefix speak?
Last week Tampere Ilves got to play their first match at the brand new Tammela stadium. In connection with the opening match, Ilves announced its brand reform. The club said it will use the Ilves FC marketing name. The change was justified by public awareness. The previous marketing name Ilves Edustus was not considered effective in the international mind.
The news of the English prefix caused a backlash among supporters. The Ilves supporters group protested against the new name in the ice hockey championship league match on Saturday in Vaasa. During the match, three banners with the words “a century of traditions, a united voice against plastic†were raised in the away stadium, which could hold approximately 1,500 supporters. In the last banner, the letters FC from the Ilves FC text were crossed out with red paint.
With the word Muovi, supporters of clubs with traditions often poke fun at, for example, clubs created through the merger of two or more clubs, which are not considered to have the same traditions.
According to Aamulehti Ilves will still remain in the league table as Ilves. The FC prefix is only used in marketing. In social media, there has been a debate on the subject for and against.
– First of all, it is really great that even small changes arouse emotions in Ilves supporters. Secondly, it must be said that no one is or will be talking about Ilveske as FC or as a representation, but rather Ilveske or “Ipa†, says Pohja.
– It is certainly a primitive reaction to things that are changed. Of course, for some people it can feel like why things that have always been there have to be changed when there are abbreviations in foreign languages. Maybe this will be resolved too!
Especially in England, the name, logo, or even color changes associated with clubs have aroused strong backlash over the years. For example, Leeds released their new logo in 2018, which was abandoned in just a week due to opposition from supporters. Hull City’s plans to change their name to Hull Tigers were shelved of backlash until then in the football association.
The change of Ilves, which is returning to Eurokent next season, is very moderate compared to these examples, but it aptly tells about the importance of traditions to many football fans in Finland as well. Football working life professor at the University of Jyväskylä Mihaly Szerovay describes European clubs as old and strong institutions, which explains the phenomenon.
– Fans may perceive changes as a threat to their values and goals. Their ties to the clubs have often been formed over generations. There are often tensions between different logics. As Ilves stated in its press release, the new brand may be better suited for, for example, marketing communications and the acquisition of sponsors. In addition to Finland, they also operate internationally, says Szerovay.
3) What happened to the women’s preseason tournament?
There is less than two months until the opening of the domestic season. The men have already prepared for the main season in league cup matches for several rounds.
The women will not play a similar competition this season. No, although last winter’s National Cup, which was played for the first time, received a positive reception from the league clubs. There was an order for the competition, because last year the Suomen Cup returned from a group-stage tournament to a playoff format, and at the same time the cup switched to being played entirely during the regular season.
This season’s National Cup was canceled before Christmas, even though almost all clubs wanted to play it. The condition for organizing the competition was that every major league team participates. League announced in Decemberthat not all teams registered for the tournament.
– Now that the Finnish Cup is played during the regular season, the teams go almost half a year without a competitive match. It affects the preparation of even the poorest, Urheilu’s expert Hanna Ruohomaa says.
Ruohomaa wonders about giving up the National Cup. The natural reason why some teams didn’t join is the cost. In the National Cup last year too, there was no trophy carrot of any kind.
– The Balloliitto didn’t even announce which teams were participating. It almost feels like not enough has been tried for this tournament to get help. If this is so expensive for the clubs, then couldn’t we get help from the federation so that the women’s main series develops? Ruohomaa asks.
In Ruohomaa’s opinion, participation in the National Cup should be part of the league license conditions. Honka, PK-35 Vantaa and ONS were missing from last year’s tournament. Instead of them, there were three Ykkönen teams.
The national league will be reduced to eight teams next year. Ruohomaa sees that the National Cup would have been an important part of the development process of the domestic premier league.
– There is a lot of talk that they want to raise the level of the main series and therefore make a series reform. It’s a shame that the National Cup is allowed to die. However, it has been beneficial, says Ruohomaa.
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