Tag Archive | "Jari Litmanen"

Veikkausliiga Power Rankings Week 1

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

6 Comments

Janne Oivio continues his skewed coverage of Veikkausliiga following the preview package published last week. It’s ridiculously early to do a power ranking, but I don’t care. Having just completed NFN’s Massive Veikkausliiga Preview I was so delighted with myself that I decided to begin a running feature which will run hopefully every other week.

Continue reading...

Random predictions for Veikkausliiga 2010

Thursday, April 15, 2010

1 Comment

In the run-up to my Massive Season Preview 2010 (to be published very, very soon), I thought I’d start off with the conventional random predictions and pre-emptive awards for the upcoming season.

Continue reading...

Jaro sign manager’s son

Saturday, March 13, 2010

2 Comments

Alexei Eremenko Jr has signed for FF Jaro on loan from his fantastically named Ukrainian club, Metalist Kharkiv. The 26 year old, who can play as an attacking midfielder or forward but has most often been seen sitting on the bench in recent years, will spend the whole season at the Jakobstad club according to [...]

Continue reading...

Johansson pleased with Euro 2012 qualification draw

Monday, February 8, 2010

0 Comments

New TPS signing Jonatan Johansson is content with Sunday’s Euro 2012 draw that placed Finland in qualification group E alongside Sweden, Netherlands, Hungary, Moldova and San Marino. “Netherlands are the favourites”, Johansson stated the obvious. “It is great to play Sweden after a long time. They are going through some changes and are unsure who [...]

Continue reading...

Finland 2009 in pictures, part one

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

7 Comments

This is the first in a series of posts that will aim to tell something about Finland’s 2009 season using photgraphs. The pictures should form a gallery, when you click on one of them, but the text is not visible in those galleries. Thanks to Tero Wester, Petteri Lehtonen and FutisForum2 for all their help [...]

Continue reading...

Johansson scores one and sets up another as Finland draw in Hamburg

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

1 Comment

It was billed as the day Finland’s young players would come of age, and those that played certainly did that. Roni Porokara was a constant threat to Beck on Finland’s left wing, Kasper Hämäläinen linked up on the other wingand was not overawed in front of a crowd 12 times larger than his club’s average [...]

Continue reading...

Evolution beats revolution as Wales fall to Finland

Sunday, October 11, 2009

12 Comments

*Scroll down for highlights* It wasn’t exactly a momentous occasion. In the run-up to the game someone had scrawled “PALLOLIITTO HAISTAKAA VITTU” (“Finnish FA get to fuck”) on the wall outside the Football Association’s offices, evidence of the hostility Finland’s football decision makers can face when their performance is deemed unsatisfactory. The hostility comes from [...]

Continue reading...

Finland v Wales: end of an era?

Saturday, October 10, 2009

0 Comments

That’s the question that’s dominated a lot of the buildup to the penultimate game of Finland’s World Cup qualifying campaign. After the disaster in Liechtenstein, debate has centred on Stuart Baxter’s continued stewardship of the national team. The former South Africa coach and those within the Finland camp have emphasised the importance of retaining third [...]

Continue reading...

Baxter loses face in Liechtenstein

Friday, September 11, 2009

7 Comments

Finland were so utterly rubbish in the matches against Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein that it simply defies belief. Wednesday night goes down among the worst nights in the history of Finnish football. It wasn’t just that it was bad, it was bloody embarrassing. If this is the best that Mr. Baxter can provide with the selection [...]

Continue reading...

FC Lahti v Club Brugge almost live blog!

Thursday, August 6, 2009

2 Comments

2pm: I’m going to endeavour to write a live blog on the game today. Last time we did this for a Euro game the site had some technical problems, and that is quite likely to happen again – if it does, we will switch to NFN’s Twitter page. I’ll endeavour to answer comments as the [...]

Continue reading...

Puntteri´s pick of the week: RoPS

Friday, July 24, 2009

7 Comments

In the first of a new semi-regular feature, Puntteri picks out a promising bet from the weekend programme. Jekyll and Hyde team RoPS host FC Lahti this weekend Latest 6 games from the right: RoPS: 0-0-3-0-3-3 —- Lahti: 0-0-3-1-1-1 Head  to Head: 3-8-9 This season: 29.04.2009 Lahti – RoPS 4-1 The head to head stats [...]

Continue reading...

Haka and HJK pull clear, Tamperelaiset get rained on

Sunday, July 5, 2009

9 Comments

Watching Tampere United struggle to a single goal victory over JJK at Ratina yesterday, it occurred to me just how astonishing it is that anyone watches Finnish football. The first half was enjoyably predictable, as TamU attacked and JJk attempted to string a few passes together. JJK’s South Korean striker Nam was brought off injured, [...]

Continue reading...

Riku Riski, heir to the throne

Sunday, May 17, 2009

12 Comments

OK, maybe I am taking a step too far in comparing this 19-year old to Mr Litmanen. Still, what a performance! Riski, or RR10, as his recently innovated nickname goes, beautifully set up TPS’s winning goal against VPS and also put the ball past Henri Sillanpää himself. He was composed with the ball, passing precisely [...]

Continue reading...

Veikkausliiga 2009 preview: FC Lahti

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

0 Comments

In: Mohamed Fofana, Toni Huuhka, Jussi Heikkinen, Niki Helenius Out: Pyry Kärkkäinen, Pekka Kainu, Eetu Sassila Coach: Ilkka Mäkelä Claimed playing budget: €440,000

Continue reading...

Finland in Norway = did you bring your boots?

Tuesday, March 31, 2009

1 Comment

After a lot of tut-tutting over Craig Bellamy’s idiotic comments, the Finnish squad is looking a little bit threadbare as they prepare for the vitally important friendly against Norway. Lillestrom keeper Otto Fredriksson will watch the game from the sidelines so as to avoid aggravating a troublesome knee. Niklas Moisander has decided he doesn’t want [...]

Continue reading...

Craig Bellamy in ‘petulant stupidity’ shocker

Sunday, March 29, 2009

4 Comments

This version of Bellamy’s post-match interview was mocked up by a Finland fan, as you can probably work out from the eagle owl and sheep-bothering montage at the end. I’ve seen it a couple of times now, and I still can’t quite believe that Craig Bellamy (international goals: 16) is criticising Jonatan Johansson (international goals: [...]

Continue reading...