In their first game of the European football championships, Finland lost to Spain with 1–4 goals. Helmareit’s start in the games was sensational, because the striker Linda Sällström to Spain’s shock, hit the ball into the goal after only 48 seconds of play.
The goal immediately went down in the history books, it is one of the fastest goals ever scored in the Women’s European Championships. Previously, only in 1995 has England scored a goal in the first minute of the game Karen Farley in the semi-final against Germany.
Sports expert Jonne Kunnasen according to Finland’s first goal in this year’s European Championships was a good indication of how it can injure its quality opponents with its style of play.
– That goal went exactly according to Finland’s playbook in recent years. In the goal, Finland was even able to use Spain’s strength immediately against them, says Kunnas.
After Helmareit’s lead goal, the game was a preliminary favorite for Spain. “La Roja”, ranked seventh in the world and one of the European Championship gold favorites, hit the game level and took the lead in the opening half. In the second half, Spain beautified the game with two more hits and, at Finland’s expense, extended their streak of unbeaten international matches to 24 matches.
In this story, Kunnas breaks down three things about Finland’s game: the successful opening goal, the variable press play and the criticized defense of the penalty area.
Spain’s counter-press provided a chance for Finland to score
Finland’s opening goal came like a bolt from a clear sky. Spanish midfielder Irene Guerrero steered the ball with his foot on the left side towards the one who played on top Esther Gonzalezbut the ball went straight to Helmareit’s topper Give it to Westerlund.
Westerlund took direct advantage of the change of possession, sending a high vertical pass with his right foot towards the space between Spain’s defenders. The top of Finland Linda Sällström recognized his space and timed his run perfectly. He broke through alone and fired a low shot. Spain goalkeeper Sandra Panos got his hands between, but the leather ball rolled into the goal through the post.
Expert Jonne Kunnas: After this possession, Finland played the ball according to their style of play along the same lane behind the defenders. Sällström knew this would happen. The Spanish players have it almost in their blood to start the counter-press immediately. They want to win the ball back as soon as they lose it. In the video, you can see how all their movements are directed towards defending the ball. That’s why even the lowest players defended Sällström’s move poorly and didn’t notice it.
After the goal, control of the game passed to Spain. As expected, Finland ended up retreating to their own shape, but tried to implement their exploitative game, where after the ball they looked for quick movement upright towards the goal.
The timings of the Finnish press failed
Especially in the opening half, Finland defended in different ways in different parts of the field. The Helmaris, for example, try to defend and press Spain’s goal kicks for a while by catching the players very high. The difficulty here turned out to be the Finnish players’ insufficient reading of each other’s movements when scrimmaging.
Jonne Kunnas: In the video example, Finland presses from high, catching the Spanish defenders immediately in the goal kick. Finland tried to close the ball on the wing by controlling the distances, but the timings of the Helmareite attack and midfield players are constantly a little late. When rushing from such a height, the players should be able to read each other’s movements really well, so that no one opens up passing gaps.
However, the press of the helmets was also capable of success closer to its own goal. The video below shows how Fullback Emma Koivisto breaks away from the defensive line and pressures the Spanish player into a bad touch. Koivisto takes the ball and opens a vertical pass for Sällström to attack. The Finnish striker gets into a partial one-on-one situation, where he loses the ball due to the defender’s contact.
Jonne Kunnas: Finland mainly defended in a 4–4–2 formation. Here, the attackers try to direct the passes to the wing, where the press can then be started. In the example below, however, Finland’s top pair Sällström–San Francisco lets the pass go between them, which opens up Finland’s defense and gives Spain a lot of space between the lines.
In addition to its basic formation, Finland used a 4–5–1 formation for moments when defending, when Franssi dropped to the midfield as the fifth player. However, this revealed Finland’s problems with the players’ mutual communication.
Jonne Kunnas: Franssi was always the first to run up the midfield line to meet the ball. However, in the second example of the video above, we can see how the gap left by Franss after Spain moved the ball is left empty in the line and is immediately taken advantage of. Reducing such situations requires joint repetitions and action plans, but also the players’ personal abilities to communicate and recognize situations. When Franssi leaves the line, the midfield line should close the resulting gaps.
Defense is still the crowning glory
Finland’s defensive play was under special scrutiny in the EC opening. In addition to the fact that Finland’s defensive four were known to face a special test with Spain’s attacking players, who are among the best in the world, the line was missing Finland’s number one name, Toppari Natalia Kuikka. Suffering from a fever, Kuikka finally came on the field in the second period.
Anna Westerlund and Elli Pikkujämsä were in a difficult position, because a total of 16 goals had been scored against Finland in the seven international matches played by this year’s side before the Games. Helmaret’s defense of the sixteen area had been heavily criticized even before the games, and it was not even close to the best.
Jonne Kunnas: When defending the penalty area, the ball often drives Finland’s thinking too much. It causes the mutual communication to disappear here as well and the bottom line does not take into account the dangerous movements of the opponents. In the video below, we can see how Finland’s trio on the left side follows the ball, and Spain’s Fence Bonmati remain free behind them. After this, on the same side Ona Batlle pass by Helmareid Ria Öling’s, as a result of which the other Finns immediately shrink into a ball. Two players are passed with one pass.
In Spain’s second goal, the space provided by Finland was especially emphasized both in front of the defensive line and in the middle of the toppers. The right side of the helmets offered To Maria Leoni plenty of room to center the ball in the box and he thanked for his opportunity.
Jonne Kunnas: In the goals scored by Spain, in addition to team tactical issues, the personal defense of the Finns was also emphasized. How the defenders approach the opponent, how to make contact with them, how well you stay between the ball and your own goal. In Spain’s second goal, the top pair Westerlund–Pikkujämsä was also unable to take care of their own players.
Finland will next face Denmark next Tuesday. Expert Kunnas emphasizes that Finland must choose the way it wants to defend in the next game.
– They need to clarify the way in which they want to act. They must ensure that there is as little space as possible between the lines and the choices must be clearer in counterattacks. In addition, both the passes and the movements of the players receiving the passes must be of higher quality. Against Spain, counter-pressing was scarce precisely because of bad passes and lack of support movements. It has to be improved by any means, he says.