Monthly Archives: April 2012

Fire of the north lights up the south

Joel PohjanpaloThis Sunday saw the opening round of the 2012 Veikkausliiga season, with all but two of the league’s twelve teams in action. The five matches had their fair share of talking points, but one man, or rather one boy, managed to steal the show.

HJK started the defence of their league championship with a home fixture against IFK Mariehamn, who finished seventh last year. For a match they were expected to win, they started poorly. Mariehamn gave a signal of their intent to play attacking football with the first real chance of the match, a Petteri Forsell free kick after five minutes. Indeed, it was the visitors who took the lead, scoring shortly after the half-time interval through Amos Ekhalie.

The champions were forced to react to going a goal behind, and they brought on two players who played significant parts in their success last season, Erfan Zeneli and Sebastian Sorsa. It was a player in their starting XI who went on to steal the show, however. A cross from Sorsa in the 70th minute was met by the head of Joel Pohjanpalo, who steered the ball into the bottom corner of the IFK net.

It was only one minute before Pohjanpalo put his side in the lead with a second goal, this time with a fine shot on the turn from inside the penalty area. A brace was impressive enough for the 17-year-old, but he wasn’t done yet. Two minutes later he became the scorer of the fastest hat-trick in Finnish league history after working hard to make space for himself on the edge of the area before firing a shot past Simon Nurme, the Mariehamn goalkeeper.

Mariehamn tried to hit back but the tide had turned irreversibly against them. They were beaten almost single-handedly, as HJK had not played well at all as a team. But that will be quickly forgotten, while Pohjanpalo’s remarkable achievement is long remembered. This was only his second league appearance for HJK, though he had been scoring regularly in their pre-season and got a goal in the team’s Liigacup final penalty shoot-out defeat to TPS last week.

The media attention on Pohjanpalo between now and HJK’s next match on Thursday will be huge. I’ve already heard that there were a number of scouts watching him at today’s match. His club will be hoping he could be this season’s Teemu Pukki, scoring plenty of goals and eventually netting them a nice profit. I hope for his sake, though, he sticks with the club beyond this summer. He doesn’t even turn 18 until September.

If you’re wondering about this article’s title, incidentally, it’s because one translation of Pohjanpalo into English is “Fire of the north”. It could equally be “Burning of the bottom”, but the kid deserves a better nickname than that.

Elsewhere, JJK put up a good fight to come back from 2-0 down against KuPS to take a 2-2 draw. Lasse Linjala and Babatunde Wusu, both of whom had come on as substitutes for the team from Jyväkylä, scored in the 86th and 87th minutes to deny KuPs a victory. Ilja Venäläinen and Paul Obiefule had scored for the home side.

The day’s full results are as follows:

TPS 0-1 MyPa
Honka 1-1 VPS
Lahti 1-0 Haka
HJK 3-1 Mariehamn
KuPS 2-2 JJK

Week 15 roundup: TPS triumph in Liigacup

A look back at what’s been making the headlines in Finnish football over the course of the past week or so.

LiigacupTPS take spot-kick victory in Liigacup final

2011 double winners HJK couldn’t add to their trophy collection as they were beaten on penalty kicks by TPS in last week’s Liigacup final. TPS took the lead in the last few minutes of the first half through Juho Lähde before HJK, playing in their home stadium, levelled things up just after the break with a Joel Pohjanpalo goal. Despite dictating the play for most of the game, the Helsinki-based club couldn’t find a winner, so the match finished 1-1 and went to a shoot-out. Erfan Zeneli missed the first penalty for HJK, after which Petteri Pennanen scored for TPS. When HJK’s earlier goalscorer Pohjanpalo missed with their second attempt, the cup looked to be heading to Turku. They converted all their spot kicks to take a 4-3 victory.

Match report (in Finnish): Veikkausliiga

Finnish participation in Europe ends as AZ crash out

AZ Alkmaar were the only side left in European competition with Finnish players in their squad up until last Thursday, when they were knocked out by Valencia. A somewhat fortunate 2-1 home victory in the home leg had given them hope of progressing to the semi-finals, but a convincing 4-0 win for the Spanish side in the return fixture sent them crashing out of the competition. Niklas Moisander and his defence could not prevent the French defender Adil Rami from scoring two goals from two corners in the same number of minutes, firstly with a header and then a volley. Jordi Alba and Pablo Hernández finished the job off the Valencia in the second half.

A quarter-final elimination is nothing to be ashamed of for a club like AZ, but they must be disappointed with the manner in which they exited the competition. One unused substitute in their match against Valencia was centre back Thomas Lam, a Dutch and Finnish national who has represented Finland at the under-19 level. He could be a player to watch in the future.

Finnish Football AssociationRespect day to provide farewell for Finland legends

The Finnish Football Association have announced a pair of exhibition matches to be played on the 8th of September. Going under the title of “Respect”, the first will be between “Veikkausliiga Legends” and “Football Association Gladiators”, while the second match, the main event, will see a Finland team made up of core national team players from the early 2000s, including Sami Hyypiä and Jari Litmanen, take on an invitational World XI. Finland will be led by Roy Hodgson, who was in charge of the national team with some success between 2006 and 2007, while Richard Møller Nielsen, Finland’s head coach between 1996 and 1999, will be responsible for managing their opponents. The team compositions will be announced in May.

The day will serve two purposes: firstly, it will serve as a testimonial match for Finland’s Silver Generation, who came very close to qualifying for a major tournament on a couple of occasions, and secondly, it will raise money for charity. Which charity the money will go to has yet to be decided. I’ll bring you more news about that, as well as the teams and the day itself, when it is made available.

Press release (in Finnish): Suomen Palloliitto

Hyypiä takes charge at Leverkusen

Finnish football legend and current assistant manager of the national team Sami Hyypiä has been given control at Bayer Leverkusen of the German Bundesliga for the rest of the season, in arguably the highest-profile appointment for a Finnish manager in history. Despite not yet having all the necessary coaching qualifications, Hyypiä will effectively manage the team until the end of this season, working alongside the club’s under-19 coach Sascha Lewandowski, who is fully licensed.

Sami Hyypiä working with Finland

Five consecutive defeats spelled the end for Bayer Leverkusen’s previous manager, Robin Dutt. That run included a 7-1 thrashing at the hands of Barcelona in the Champions League, but it was their loss at home in the league to Freiburg that proved to be the final straw. Freiburg are currently battling relegation in the Bundesliga, while Leverkusen harbour ambitions of playing European football again next season and are now seventh.

Hyypiä joined Leverkusen as a player in 2009 from Liverpool, where he had played for ten years, winning the Champions League and becoming a popular player with the fans in the process. He excelled in his first season at Leverkusen too, but decided to retire from the game one year later at the age of 37, becoming a coach at the German club as well as the Finnish national team.

His appointment can only be a good thing for Finland. Whatever experience he picks up from Leverkusen can be transferred to his coaching of the national team (and vice versa). It should be stressed that he has only been appointed as a caretaker-manager, but if he does well, as I fully expect him to, there’s no reason why he couldn’t manage his country as well one day.

TPS and HJK to meet in Liigacup final

LiigacupThe quarter- and semi-finals of Finland’s pre-season knock-out tournament, the Liigacup, took place over the last week and a half while I was busy writing exams. Here’s what happened.

Cup holders Honka were knocked out in the quarter-finals by VPS on the 21st of March thanks a goal from Cheyne Fowler, the only one of the match. The South African Fowler joined VPS this off-season from HJK, who overcame KuPS on the same day in a rematch of last year’s Suomen Cup final. The scoreline there finished 2-1, with HJK’s goals coming from Antti Okkonen and Berat Sadik, who scored with an overhead kick. Miikka Ilo replied for KuPS to give them hope of a comeback, but it didn’t materialise.

Elsewhere, Inter beat Jaro in an exciting match which finished 2-3. Jussi Aalto opened the scoring for the home side Jaro, whose pressing game allowed them to control the opening stages. They made a number of chances but were soon punished for not taking more of them when Inter levelled the match up through Henri Lehtonen. In the second half, Inter opened up a 1-3 lead with goals from Severi Paajanen and Irakli Sirbiladze before Simon Skrabb got one back for Jaro. An exciting finish was assured when Inter had Joni Kauko sent off with a little over twenty minutes to play, but they held on the victory and a place in the semi-finals.

Rounding off the quarter-finals was TPS against MyPa, played on Friday the 23rd of March. Unlike the other three matches, it wasn’t at all a close encounter, as TPS thrashed their visitors 4-0. Aleksi Ristola opened the scoring after just five minutes, the culmination of an excellent move from TPS. Petteri Pennanen scored in the 39th minute, and their second-half goals came from a pair of Finland internationals, Mika Ääritalo and Mikko Hyyrynen.

The first semi-final took place on Wednesday, when TPS took on VPS. Ääritalo continued his good form, scoring two goals in the second half to give the team from Turku a 2-0 victory. Their opponents in the final will be HJK, whose match with Inter went all the way to penalties after finishing 2-2 in 90 minutes. After a goalless first half, Inter took the lead through their Dutch player Pim Bouwman. HJK then scored two in quick succession through Joel Perovuo and Akseli Pelvas before Inter drew level again with a goal, scored by Sirbiladze, that HJK Ville Wallen won’t want to see too many replays of. He appeared to have caught the fairly weak shot with both hands before letting the ball slip through and into the net. There is no extra time in the Liigacup so the match went straight to penalties at the final whistle. HJK held their nerve to win 6-5 in the shoot-out.

So the final will be TPS against HJK. Personally, I would have rather seen a Turku derby than another “home” match for HJK which they will be expected to win, but it should still be an exciting match with TPS in excellent form. The final kicks off at 18:30 on Wednesday the 4th of April at the Sonera Stadium in Helsinki. Tickets can be purchased here.