Nordic Football News

Veikkausliiga is kind of in the middle of a break because of the U21 European Championships. “Kind of” here means that in the public view, the league is on a break, but at the same time some fixtures are being played. A good way to get rid of spectators, I have to say.

Last night, MYPA took a 2-0 away win at KuPS. The marketing masterminds at Veikkausliiga and KuPS will be delighted that 810 thought the game was worthy of watching. Tosaint Ricketts scored the first and Maxim Votinov doubled the score right before half-time. Highlights are available here. Be sure you actually watch while the video is loading, because in the middle of all the silence you won’t realise the clip has started unless you look at the screen.

Anyway, on to tonight’s games.

FF Jaro (7th) – RoPS (12th), 6:30 PM

RoPS sacked their head coach Valeri Bondarenko a couple of weeks ago, and announced that some professional coaches have contacted them. The two most professional options to take the job were Mika Lumijärvi and Zeddy Saileti, neither of which have a valid licence to coach a top flight team. If these were the best alternatives, I wonder what the other candidates have done to earn the status of a professional. I love these honest northern men.

RoPS had a bad start to the season, but took a surprise victory against HJK in their last game before the “break”. Jaro are also in good shape if the form table is anything to go by. They have scored eight goals in their last two home encounters, and given that RoPS have yet to win an away game (if their cup win against a Kolmonen side is ignored), the hosts go into this game as slight favourites.

Jaro are missing Jari Sara, Jani Sarajärvi, Heikki Aho and Jonas Portin, who is in Sweden with the U21 side. RoPS are without Jarno Tenkula and Juuso Majava, Nchimunya Mweetwa is doubtful.

Home win

FC Lahti (9th) – IFK Mariehamn (5th), 7 PM
Live on Urheilukanava and streams

Lahti got off to a good start before losing two games in a row prior to what looks a bit like a break. IFK Mariehamn have also had an encouraging start to the season, playing well against opponents that have been considered better. Lahti are one of those teams, and have to be careful with the Ålanders. IFK showed even greater potential by putting in an encouraging performance against Atletico Madrid, so on a good day they are able to win just about any Veikkausliiga team. This particular game seems like a draw to me though.

Lahti go into the game without Jonni Heikkinen, Jukka Veltheim and Mika Hänninen, while IFK Mariehamn are missing Dmytro Pronevych, Dmytro Voloshyn, Peter Blomberg and Willis Ochieng, who is with the Kenyan national team.

Draw