The return of the women’s national team to the Olympic Stadium was one example of the growth of girls’ and women’s football in Finland.
Finland – Ireland 1–2
Finland the women’s national football team suffered its opening loss in the World Cup qualifiers after two winning matches. Ireland took its opening victory in the qualifiers in Helsinki, and it was a tough result for it. For the Finnish World Cup dreams, the defeat was a bad setback.
Finnish head coach Anna Signeulin According to Finland, the goals were perhaps too easy, but they also created enough places to win.
“Like I said to my team: it’s easy to be a team when you win. Now we have to show character when things didn’t go the way we wanted. The qualifiers are not over. We just made them a little harder for us, ”Signeul said.
Finland the women’s A national team got on Tuesday for the first time in eight years to play for the Olympic Stadium, and immediately got some great support behind it. Tuesday’s crowd, 5,271, was the largest in the women’s national team’s home match since September 2009, when Finland lost to England in the European Championship qualifiers.
It shows that the women’s national team and, more generally, women’s football are living in Finland during some kind of upswing, driven by the European Championship place achieved this year.
According to the Football Association, only a tenth of Tuesday’s audience had arrived with free partner tickets. The majority of the audience were clearly young girls, which is also a good sign for the Football Association. New fans and players are growing in different parts of Finland.
This year, the number of girls and women players exceeded the 35,000 registered player threshold for the first time, and currently there are 36,500 on Tuesday.
Young Unfortunately, the audience saw almost the worst possible start to the game for Finland, and later Finland’s poor response at the beginning of the second period. Ireland took the lead after only ten minutes played and settled Finland’s handicap at the beginning of the second period, after about ten minutes of the second period.
With the help of the ball control, Ireland was able to carry out the attacks repeatedly during the first ten minutes towards the Finnish penalty area. Half a dozen passes and concentration Finland’s defense had time to be interrupted. Ireland took a free kick close to the penalty area.
Megan Connollyn a spiral free kick hit the upper corner and bounced off the goalkeeper Tinja-Riikka Korpela through the hands to the finish.
Finland’s best weapon in the last European Championship qualifiers and ongoing World Championship qualifiers has been quick and straightforward attacks after changes in the situation. When Ireland took the lead, it gave Finland very few opportunities to use its best weapon. Ireland clearly left five or six players under the ball in their own attacks.
After the beginning, Ireland was not able to break very deep with its slow attacks, but it also invested in the defense, which did not make it easier for Finland to reach the last third of the attack after the hitting of the ball.
Irish a very experienced and deserving Dutch head coach Vera Pauw had grouped their teams in the 5-3-2 lineup against Finland. Most of the Irish team play in the English tough Super League. The biggest stars are Arsenal Katie McCabe and a North Carolina Courage midfielder who won two championships in North America Denise O’Sullivan.
Anna Signeul relied again on the familiar opening line-up: Tinja-Riikka Korpela; Tuija Hyyrynen, Anna Westerlund, Natalia Kuikka, Emma Koivisto; Adelina Engman, Emmi Alanen, Eveliina Summanen, Ria Öling; Sanni Franssi, Linda Sällström.
It’s like locked up against better opponents. Maybe then sometime after next summer’s European Championships we will see a significantly changed opening line-up. At least until then, Signeul believes in his credit players.
Finland the problem with the attacks was that the team progressed too much as on the tracks towards the last third of the attack area. In special situations, Finland came closest to scoring in the opening period. However, Linda Sällström made a spectacular save.
After a few minutes of playing the second episode, Irish star player Katie McCabe was injured. It became a turning point.
As the game continued, Finland broke the Irish defense with a spectacular attack. Topper Anna Westerlund played a flank to Tuija Hyyrysen, who continued for Adelina Engman. Engman cut to the middle at the same time as Hyyrynen ran behind the line. From there, Juventus’ winger Hyyrynen fed back to Engman, who shot the ball directly into the goal.
Joy remained for a short time. Four minutes later, Ireland’s Denise O’Sullivan cleared Finland’s handicap. Heather Payne passed the left wing defender of Finland Emma Koiviston and centered the ball into the goal. Tinja-Riikka Korpela groped the ball from her hands to the back pole, where O’Sullivan defeated Hyyrysen in a duel and took Ireland to the lead.
The last ten minutes were almost equal when Ireland was tightly grouped under the ball and Finland took control of the ball. Ireland, which sought its first place in the women’s competition, managed to fight the pressure of Finland.
According to Toppari Kuika, the opponent did not have very dangerous places.
“We had places where goals should have been scored. At least we would have earned a draw. We made the game a little too difficult, ”Kuikka said.
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