Current Mood: Confused & Idearich

Finland is out of Euro2008, that became clear last night when we draw the game against Portugal with 0-0. We were the clear underdogs whole game and were barely able to get the ball to 3/4 of the pitch.

Finland review

I’d say the best Finland player was Kallio on left side who completely stunned me with his defensive ability against Ronaldo while still providing support in the attacks and helping Daniel Sjölund. Daniel was pretty good last night challenging the full-back and still providing support defensively and taking Bosingwa’s runs even though the Portuguese full-back got to 1-on-1 situations with Kallio quite often. But yet, a solid game from this late prospect.

Right side on the other hand was a huge disappointment and I yet again declare Kolkka too weak for the national team. Sure he’s quite fast despite his age and shows his work-rate by closing down the opposite attacks, but he simply doesn’t have the technique or courage when it comes to attacking situations. All I noticed last night from him was the shot from approximately 18 meters that went wide of goal.
Also on right side, Pasanen played a decent game defensively, but his free-kicks and overall performance was below average which caused me being disappointed.

Central defense with Tihinen and Hyypiä had a very good and safe game throughout the 90 minutes. Tainio and Heikkinen were able to close down the central attacks and most attacks game from sides and the rock solid couple had no problem clearing them off the area.

Jääskeläinen in goal was propably the next most important player among Kallio making a few really nice and important saves. This sort of a game is exactly what you’d expect from a Premier League top goalie. No surprises and no let downs. Just pure class.

Tainio and Heikkinen had the role to take down Maniche and Veloso who both made quite good attempts on goal when coming up to 2nd wave. Both players, especially Heikkinen, did some great work from time to time helping the sides and taking control of the ball from the Portuguese players. Tainio was a bit invisible throughout the game and was eventually substituted. But whenever he had the ball, something was ought to happen. Safe play and a couple of tricks in the offensive play, that’s what we saw from Teme today.

The King, propably the most injury prone player world has ever seen, Jari Litmanen, was in the starting line-up as well. For his defense I can just say that he hadn’t played for quite some time and was clearly a bit off his game. Went carefully to any challenges and made quite a few faulty passes eventhough a few of them were nice attempts. But sometimes those pass attempts were useless as he seemed to have a chance for a shot himself as well.

Forssell did his share of the work in attack the whole 90 mins, but was unable to provide decent changes for himself. The Portuguese central-back Pepe was marking him the whole 90 mins and gave Forssell no room. A couple of tricks was seen, but that’s about all the positive points I can give to him. Johansson (damn) came on to pair up with him on for the last 15 mins, but he’s not the caliber striker that could provide the winning goal for Finland. So a goalless game was clear, for Finland…

Player evaluation (rating):

Jääskeläinen - a few good saves (8)

Pasanen - invisible and disappointing even though taking responsibility in numerous free-kicks (6)
Tihinen - solid game (7)
Hyypiä - solid game as well (7)
Kallio - surprisingly good playing a very good game (9)

Kolkka - did nothing worth mentioning apart from the shot (6)
Tainio - helped the central defense, controlled the tempo nicely at times..hasty passes occassionally (7)
Heikkinen - really good defensively, doesn’t have the technique or the eye for attacking (8)
Litmanen - old and rusty, a few good passes and a few missed passes. Certainly match his ability (6)

Forssell - a shadow behind Pepe, created a couple of chances, but wasn’t able to convince (6)

Subs:
Väyrynen - solid game defensively (7)
Roman Eremenko - clearly needs more experience (6)
Johansson - played 15 mins, nothing worth to mention (5)

Portugal - brief review

Portugal came on with 4-5-1 as well, yet the tactic could easily be converted to a 4-3-3 with Quaresma and Ronaldo providing support to Nuno Gomes. Attacking full-backs caused constant threat to Finnish full-backs and time to time especially Bosingwa was able to cross balls from deep in the Finland half. Other than that, the central midfield with Veloso, Maniche and Meira were able to take out any attempts Finland tried to make through the centre.

Player evaluation (rating):

Ricardo - played in goal and could have applied for social welfare, that’s how unemployed he was throughout the game (6)

Alves - a solid game and due to lack of Finnish attacks, was quite unemployed as well (7)
Pepe - rock solid game from this Real Madrid player. Kept Forssell off the ball and won at least 75% of the 1-on-1 battles (9)
Caneira - supported attacks on left, but caused no problems (6)
Bosingwa - really inspiring in attacks (9)

Meira - less familiar position as DM, but a solid contribution to the team (7)
Maniche - supported attacks and controlled the tempo in midfield (8)
Veloso - set piece specialist created a few good chances (8)

Ronaldo - good game eventhough didn’t manage to score. Best player with Pepe (9)
Quaresma - a slight disappointment, tried curve balls often (7)
Nuno Gomes - caused no problems (6)

Subs:
Meireles - took Maniche’s role in midfield and did well (7)
Makukula - no difference to substituted Nuno Gomes (6)
Nani - inspiring, but only played less than 10 mins (7)

Summary:

Even though Portugal was controlling throughout the game, Finland’s defense was able to stop the attacks and therefore a draw is justified. No great chances in the game apart from Maniche’s two chances from approx 10 meters. Both shots failed failed and caused no problems to Jääskeläinen.
Kolkka’s shot early in the game and Kallio’s (?) shot in the last minutes were the best chances for Finland. Both went off the goal and caused no problems.