HJK took their first win with the return as head coach Toni Korkeakunnsen under, when it defeated local opponent Gnistan 1–0 at home.
Korkeakunnas was named HJK’s head coach on Monday. At the same time, the sports director showed the club the door Vesa Mäelle and coach Ferran to Sibila.
Read also: Toni Korkeakunnas returns as HJK’s head coach again, but one thing is different – “It will be a big sad job”
Nominally responsible for the head coach in the early season Ossi Virta watched the match from the stands.
In mid-January, HJK named Ossi Virra as their head coach, when it turned out that he was not from Sibila, who was originally appointed head coach, can be found The Uefa Pro qualification required for the head coach of the Veikkausliiga.
HJK’s Virta was not mentioned in Monday’s announcement, but Korkeakunnas told Urheilu on Monday afternoon that Virra will continue in the team for the time being.
On Wednesday, Virta was recorded in television pictures from the stands. After the match, Urheilu asked Korkeakunnas about Virtra’s situation.
– Well then… This week is a kind of survival camp.. No long-term decisions have been made about anything yet, this week we will go with this team and these players, what we have, Korkeakunnas began.
– The reason why Ossi.. Ossi and I have a lot of common and successful history, I have been his mentor for a long time. He has spent quite a lot of himself with the team and in front of the team, and then when a change is made, then a total change must be made, Korkeakunnas squirmed.
– It’s nothing that Ossi is on the sidelines or something.. But when there is a change, it’s not a change in a way if people continue in the same roles. Now we went like this and we’ll go again on Saturday and then we’ll see what happens next.
This is how the match went
Gnistan had a chance to shine after just six minutes of the game, when he excelled in the first matches of the season Joakim Latonen the ball was already passed by the HJK keeper Jesse Ostin.
On Friday, he opened his goal account in an HJK shirt Diogo Tomas however saved the situation from the finish line.
HJK luckily took the lead in the 13th minute, when Lucas Lingman shot at the ball Jiri Kosken guarding the Gnistan goal. The ball took a rebound from the Gnistan player and the Club took the lead.
Moments later, HJK experienced a setback when Kevin Kouassivi-Benissan was injured and could not continue the game. The Club had to make its first player change after only 25 minutes of play, when Johannes Yli-Kokko ran instead.
The visitors made two substitutions at the break, when David Agbo replaced Latonen and Henrik Ölander Benjamin Tatarin. Agbo’s evening speech ended up being half an hour long, when the midfielder picked up his second yellow card and had to leave the field after the 75th minute.
Lingman’s hit, which was considered the best in the match, was finally enough for HJK to win.
Head coach Korkeakunnas admitted that HJK’s performance left room for improvement.
– With this preparation, the show was what it could be. The first half was really good, there you could see things that we were able to produce last year in attack and structure, Korkeakunnas started.
– The second half was a bit more difficult, the opponent always affects that. They knew we had a new situation.
HJK’s next home match is on Saturday, when the Club meets Ilves at home.
A strange outburst from the locker room mess
A Japanese player caused confusion during the HJK match Atomu “Atom” Tanaka discharge in message service X.
In the video he published on Tuesday, Tanaka showed HJK’s messy booth, which he completely condemned.
– This kind of team cannot win. I will continue to talk about these issues openly, Tanaka wrote in connection with the video.
Atom, who suffered from injuries, has not been in the team’s lineup for a month, but the club announced in the run-up to the match, the Japanese reinforcement returned to team training.
HJK’s hero defender Joona Toiviota Tanaka’s capture made me smile.
– The culture of fines needs to be tightened so that the booth stays clean, Toivio said in an interview with .
Head coach Korkeakunnas was on the same lines.
– I haven’t seen the video, but hats off to Atom, if he thinks so, he’s probably right.
– Atom is an incredible gentleman and the most experienced player on the team. He is the one who cleans up and collects the balls, an absolutely incredible player. I have to start following social media, I’m not very good at it, but this is good information, we’ll talk about it tomorrow, Korkeakunnas laughed.
KuPS applied for the points from Vaasa
In the second match of the evening, which started at 6 p.m., Kuopio Palloseura went on a robbery spree in Vaasa, when it claimed a 3–1 victory over VPS.
Joslyn Luyeye-Lutumba was responsible for Kuopio’s first two hits. Jonathan Muzinga took KuPS to a three-goal run away at the hour mark.
Antonio Almeni in the end, the narrowing hit was a thin consolation.