Comment | The national futsal team was seconds away from the World Cup – the loss was all the more bitter

Finland the men's national futsal team was left licking their fingers again in the decisive match.

In the second match of the further qualifiers, Finland lost to the Netherlands in a penalty shootout and was eliminated from the World Cup final tournament.

Just like three and a half years ago, the road to the World Cup tournament was cut off in a pair of matches in the further qualifiers. The last obstacle was Serbia, and this time it was Holland at the Vantaa Energy Arena.

But the defeat came in a really bitter way. Finland was in a 3–2 win seven seconds before full time. Then the Netherlands equalized, and the match went to a ten-minute overtime, and in the end, tough.

It it must be said directly that by playing Finland would not have made it to the World Cup tournament. This time, the place in the further qualifiers came thanks to other fools.

Georgia and Armenia, which played in the same group of the elite round as Finland, fortunately for Finland used Brazilian players who were not eligible to represent. When Finland got the forfeits from the four wins, it advanced to the further qualification against the Netherlands.

Finland was in the win seven seconds before full time, but the Netherlands equalized, and the match went to a ten-minute overtime match.

At the beginning of it, Finland got the worst, when Holland's cumulative mistakes were full. It went unused, like the other one.

Three minutes and seven seconds before the end of the overtime match, Holland scored the lead goal. But then, with 1.2 seconds left in the game, he did Iiro Vanha equalizer and the match went to a penalty shootout.

Holland was then better in the penalty shootout. It's pretty much a lottery game, but the Finnish goalkeepers didn't manage to save a single shot, so it was decided.

Although Finland was now left out of the most prestigious tournament in a bitter way, in recent years Finland has been close to the top of Europe.

This qualification was also a proof of that. Three years ago, for the first time, the national team advanced from the main round of the World Cup qualifiers to the elite round of the qualifiers and from there to the further qualifiers, where you met Serbia.

Two years ago, Finland qualified for the EC tournament for the first time, and in these World Cup qualifiers, Finland advanced for the second time in a row from the main round to the further elite round and all the way to the further qualifiers.

Finland is already recognized as a good futsal player in Europe.

Finnish the slowness of futsal's development is the level of the domestic futsal league. There are not enough tough teams and good quality matches in the league for the players to develop enough, and only three players are currently playing abroad.

That's why the Italian head coach of the national team Sergio Gargelli has pushed Finnish players to move abroad, where professionalism is possible in many leagues.