Finland's focus turns away from sticks to football

SOCCER 2010 WORLD CUP QUALIFIER: Finland v RussiaFinland have the opportunity to take a massive huge step towards the World Cup – at the expense of their bitter foe

FINLAND AND Russia have been arch-enemies for generations. Even in recent years there has been tensions – often surrounding issues such as energy, timber, border controls and pollution of the Baltic. And, in their high-profile sporting battles, sticks and pucks have been their traditional tools of choice. Not footballs.

During the last century, soccer struggled to gain a foothold in Finland. And for good reason. In all their qualifying attempts for the World Cup and European finals, Finland have never beaten their gigantic neighbour – and, in fact, have never even qualified for a major finals tournament.

It is partly what makes tonight’s game between Finland and Russia so different, and why it has grabbed the public’s attention in Finland like never before.

At the onset of the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign, Group Four looked straight-forward – Germany and Russia were installed as favourites, with Germany expected to edge take the automatic spot and Russia the play-off position.

However, in their first game, Finland turned the predictions on their head. Jonathon Johansson, Mika Vayrynen and Daniel Sjolund sensationally cancelled out a Miroslav Klose hat-trick to take a point from the visit of Germany.

More than a year and a half later, Finland now have the opportunity to take a massive huge step towards the World Cup – at the expense of their bitter foe.

If Finland were to produce a shock this evening they would leapfrog Russia into second-place in the table. And they would then face the group’s whipping boys, Azerbaijan and Liechtenstein, before hosting Wales. Finland have beaten all three already in this campaign – including last March when Stuart Baxter’s side got the better of John Toshack’s team, 2-0, in Cardiff – Johansson and Shefki Huqi on the scoresheet.

For Finland, this is is uncharted territory and the players have been getting unprecedented attention from the locals. The hockey sticks have been put down, for now, and the focus is on football and beating Russia for the first time in almost 100 years.

Finland’s best result to date in international football came at the 1912 Olympic Games at Stockholm when Finland defeated Italy and Russia, before losing to Britain at the semi-final stage.

After the loss to the British, the players believed they were free to celebrate their great victory over Russia, but woke the following morning to learn they would be required to participate in a third-place play-off. Needless to say, The Netherlands won the bronze medal, beating the hungover Finns, 9-0.

The preparation for tonight has been a little more professional.

Ever since the Bosman Ruling, the flow of Finland’s top players to professional leagues in European has been steady, with Germany a favourite destination and several of the Finnish players will also be familiar to followers of the club game in England – including Bolton goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen, ex-Liverpool and now Bayer Leverkusen defender Sami Hyypiä, Fulham defender Toni Kallio, Sunderland midfielder Teemu Tainio and the tough, no-nonsense Crystal Palace striker Shefki Kuqi.

Another former Liverpool player, Jari Litmanen is already a legend in Finland, the 38-year-old midfielder being the owner of 123 caps and 30 international goals.

Russia have two well-known England-based strikers – Arsenal’s Andrei Arshavin and Tottenham’s Roman Pavlyuchenko. Those two, however, are the only members of the squad not based in Russia. The Russia players, therefore, have been unable to escape the intense pressure coming from their demanding supporters.

Defeat is not on the agenda. Crossing the border into Finland has proved a dangerous game for Russians. And, historically, a humiliating one.

When USSR tanks entered Finland in 1939 the world reacted with shock and outrage, but did little to help the seemingly hopelessly outnumbered Finns.

A quick victory was anticipated, but as the determination of the Finnish army in resisting the aggressors in the “Winter War” became legendary, the embarrassment in Moscow grew audible (and in fact, convinced Germany to launch Operation Barbarossa in 1941).

Finland’s final game in the 2010 World Cup qualifying campaign will be away to Germany, who they hope will have already beaten Russia in their penultimate game. Germany would then have nothing to play for in their final game, while Finland could well arrive needing at least a point.

First, though, the wheels have to be put in motion tonight in Helsinki. Finland’s visit to Moscow last October was a disaster, with two Finnish players – Petri Pasanen and Veli Lampi – making the scoresheet. Both bundled the ball into their own net, with local hero Arshavin making sure of the points a few minutes before full-time.

Nerves were blamed.

Next year, Finland will be gripped by the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, especially if the finals throws up a hockey meeting with their neighbours.

But, for now, all the focus is on tonight’s crucial meeting at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.

If Finland were to beat Russia it would rank with legendary results such as the 5-0 hockey “shutout” of Russia in the 1994 Winter Olympics in Lillehammer (the first time Russia had failed to score in Olympic history).

While Guus Hiddink has managed to work his magic with teams such as PSV Eindhoven, South Korea, Australia and, more recently, Chelsea, he would not survive a loss to a team Russian supporters expect to brush aside.

Helsinki is expecting the largest foreign travelling support ever to visit the capital today.

Goliath is back in Finland.

This time, however, David is playing a different game.