It’s not April Fools’ Day, and I’m not kidding for any other reason either. See for yourself. Tony Björk found the net on the 12th minute and Antonio Inutile doubled the lead 11 minutes later. The two goals were enough to leave RoPS all alone in the relegation spot, and anger the fans. A thread demanding the resignation of CEO Jouko Kiistala was soon opened on Finland’s biggest football message board, and the fans might have a point. If thing’s do not change, RoPS could face their third relegation from Veikkausliiga this decade. Kiistala’s Zambia-Rovaniemi Express is second only to the Berlin Airlift, and you don’t really need 8 Zambians, a Nigerian, a Brazilian and a Korean to achieve relegation. RoPS’ own youngsters could do the same and more with the help of some more experienced Finns. Sorry for anyone who lost their car, house, wife and kids in betting because I said the game will end goalless.
TPS are steadily improving, and head coach Pasi Rautiainen seems to live up to his promise according to which TPS will be difficult to win. If they go on playing like they did tonight they certainly won’t lose too many games, but they might want to score a goal or two in the process of not losing. TPS had 25 attempts at IFK Mariehamn’s goal. 14 were on and 11 off target, but it only earned them a goalless draw. Rautiainen was not very pleased with it, as his comments (cited by Lari Vesander’s excellent blog) suggest. There is no way I can write up his comments in an easily digestable form without losing the emotion vested in them, so here is the whole, uncensored chunk:
“Football is a game of results and goals make the difference. And the harsh reality is that with all the chances we had during these 90 minutes, you have to be able to score the goal, if you want to cope in the league. We’ve got lots of disappointed guys in the dressing room, but it’s useless to blab about someone doing his best and giving all he has got for the team and having the right attitude…Of course! They’re corner stones in football, damn it! Fuck it, if a striker does not score a single goal and I as a coach have to go and say ‘yeah, but he’s hard-working’…Scoring goals is their job! There’s no point in saying ‘if I don’t score, then I’ll do everything I can for the team’. I think it’s time we start asking if there’s enough quality.”
Elsewhere, Jaro showed their 5-1 Liigacup victory over MYPA in the spring was not a heavenly coincidence. Joonas Laurikainen, Sebastian Mannström and Kristian Kojola scored to give Jaro a comfortable 3-0 win, while TamU did what was expected of them and took a 2-0 win against KuPS.
HJK-Lahti will finish round 7 tomorrow. A win for either side will not change the fact that Haka and Inter are topping the league. Click here to see the league table.
May 24th, 2009 at 11:22 pm
I’ve heard Rovaniemians moan that the young footballers there are all midgets, as the bigger lads play volleyball and hockey. And I’m pretty sure it’s easier to persuade a player to move to Rovaniemi if he has grown up in a third world country than if he’s from the south of Finland. There are many, many things wrong with RoPS but I don’t think the nationality of the players is anywhere close to the top of the list. I am no big fan of Kiistala, but he’s done better than Lappeenranta, Porvoo, Mikkeli, Joensuu, Seinäjoki, Salo and Kokkola (all with a similar population to Rovaniemi, none as isolated from the rest of the country) in getting RoPS into Veikkausliiga, and that has to be worth something.
As for Pasi: wow. Wonder who he could possibly be referring to?
May 25th, 2009 at 9:42 am
Well, they have a strong youth organization and should be able to use it to their advantage to a greater extent. I understand the problems that come with their remote location, but I think they could easily give some of their own kids some more time on the pitch. They are improving now with the help of Turpeenniemi and the likes, but as I said, not all the foreigners are needed to get relegated. It does not benefit Finnish football if you bring 11 Africans or Asians that are not solid reinforcements.
Pasi is the kind of guy who would perhaps need two or three hours before talking to the media after an unsuccesful game. Last night he was clearly very upset when he heard the final whistle, and I’m not sure if he could think rationally five minutes later. He had a point, but I’m not sure if he should say that to the press. But he’s most likely referring to Paatelainen, who couldn’t score, Wusu, who’s surprisingly good at passing the ball but didn’t get shots in last night, and Andreasen, who can’t play football but scores in every game – except last night, when he ridiculously went for the overhead when a clinical finish was needed. Hämäläinen missed a chance too, but he generally had a very good game, and I don’t think Pasi had a reason to criticise him.
June 7th, 2009 at 3:54 am
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