Tag Archive | "Stuart Baxter"
Johansson pleased with Euro 2012 qualification draw
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 is [...]
Continue reading...Payback time
Sunday, February 7, 2010
Finnish football journalist Janne Oivio makes his NFN debut with an appeal for Finland to heal the scars caused by a previous close shave in qualifying, after the Euro2012 draw pitted Finland against a former nemesis. I don’t care about qualifying for Euro 2012. Just destroy Hungary. I’ll never forget October 11th, 1997. For the first time [...]
Continue reading...Finland 2009 in pictures, part three
Saturday, November 21, 2009
In part three of our pictorial roundup of 2009, we focus on the senior men’s national team. Click on the photos to enlarge.
Continue reading...Johansson scores one and sets up another as Finland draw in Hamburg
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
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...Baxter goes for youth, looks to 2014
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Talking to Finnish football journalists always reminds me a little bit of the Four Yorkshiremen sketch. “I was there when we drew with Liechtenstein, that was an awful night.” “LIECHTENSTEIN? LUXURY! I’ve seen us draw 0-0 with Andorra!” “That’s nothing – I was there when Shefki missed that last minute chance in Prague and the Czechs went up [...]
Continue reading...New players pave the way for a more physical and dynamic Finland
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
It is a cruel world full of peril out there in international football and that is why, like a she-bear looking over her cubs, Stuart Baxter, the Finland coach, has been sheltering his young players before releasing them into the wild. However, on Saturday Baxter realised he was fighting a loosing battle against forces of [...]
Continue reading...Evolution beats revolution as Wales fall to Finland
Sunday, October 11, 2009
*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 small [...]
Continue reading...Finland v Wales: end of an era?
Saturday, October 10, 2009
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
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...The Stuart Baxter revolution: It is time for the Scotsman to show that he is not all talk
Thursday, September 3, 2009
It is going to be a crucial week for the Finland coach Stuart Baxter as his team travel to Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein. The week might even become to define his era as the coach of the Finnish national team in two respects. Firstly, even though again Finland can only fantasise about qualifying for the World [...]
Continue reading...Finland’s Under 21 Euros: no humiliation, but is that enough?
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
STUART BAXTER is a polite and eloquent man, but at a Finnish FA press lunch given on Finland’s final day at the UEFA under-21 championships he found it difficult to express his feelings without recourse to an expletive. He had watched Finland’s previous two matches from the enclosure reserved for scouts, and their constant queries [...]
Continue reading...Finland 2 Liechtenstein 1
Saturday, June 6, 2009
He wears the number ten shirt, he is the best footballer his country has ever produced, and today at the Olympic Stadium he showed just why he’s so integral to the national side. Yes, AC Siena playmaker Mario Frick finally ended Liechtenstein’s nine-game goal drought with a close range finish in the 13th minute after [...]
Continue reading...Finland in Norway = did you bring your boots?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
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
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...Wales 0 Finland 2
Saturday, March 28, 2009
HBL had a column from Christoffer Herberts this morning, riffing on the idea that Wales and Finland are so similar as to be almost mirror images of each other. They both have a lot of injuries, they’ve both struggled to qualify for a major tournament for over 50 years, they both sruggle with a dominant [...]
Continue reading...Wales v Finland preview
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Finland are suffering from the usual injury worries, with Teemu Tainio and Mika Väyrynen out, but Jari Litmanen’s fitness is a welcome boost for Stuart Baxter. The FC Lahti striker, who scored the first ever goal at the Millenium stadium in 2000, has recovered from a clash of heads that saw him withdraw midway through [...]
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Monday, February 8, 2010
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