Finland - Poland

[molon_lave]

4 days after Serbia they head back to Helsinki to face Poland. The last time they faced them, Finland earned a famous away victory in Poland 3-1. I watched that game, to tell you the truth, I was very shocked. Good luck Finland, from a Greek fan!

[Paul_D]

Next Saturday and Wednesday will be crucial for Finland and for the Group A... There are four teams leading the Group A, and only the 2 first ones get qualified at the end.

On Wednesday, a bit before midnight, Finland will have played 11 of its 14 games.

Here are the games to be played in Group A in September:

Saturday 08.09.2007
SERBIA - FINLAND 21:15 (finnish time)
PORTUGAL - POLAND 23:00 (finnish time)

Wednesday 12.09.2007
PORTUGAL - SERBIA 21:45 (finnish time)
FINLAND - POLAND 21:45 (finnish time)

With 19 points, Poland has a clear lead, but it will be playing away, against Portugal (3rd and favorite of the group) and Finland (2nd of the group).

The good news for Finland would be that Serbia is beaten twice, and that therefore it would lose a lot of its chance to qualify.

Portugal is considered as the favorite, and many would be surprised that it does not qualify. So, if one considers that Portugal is too strong to be a direct competitor for Finland, the 2 competitors of Finland are Poland and Serbia, and that's the 2 teams Finland will play against in the next days...

Depending of the results of those September games, the last games of the group may be dramatic:

Wednesday 21.11.2007
SERBIA - POLAND 21:45
PORTUGAL - FINLAND 21:45

Current ranking:

1 - POLAND
. points: 19
. played: 9
. goal average +8

2 - FINLAND
. points: 17
. played: 9
. goal average +5

3 - PORTUGAL
. points: 15 (but one game missing)
. played: 8
. goal average +10

4 - SERBIA
. points: 14 (but one game missing)
. played: 8
. goal average +5


The 5th team of the group is Belgium, lagging behind:

5 - BELGIUM
. points: 10
. played: 9
. goal average +5

My personal opinion is that it is highly probable that Finland is the team virtually eliminated on the 12th of September, I mean by losing twice... But football is football, so you never know for sure.

/Paul

[molon_lave]

If the Portugese have already qualified prior to there match with Finland, and Finland is in good position to join Portugal in Euro 2008, I bet you Portugal will be giving away the match to Finland.

[Paul_D]

If the Portugese have already qualified prior to there match with Finland, and Finland is in good position to join Portugal in Euro 2008, I bet you Portugal will be giving away the match to Finland.

Indeed, it's possible that if Portugal is sure to have qualified before the last game, their coach may take the opportunity to do some experiences, to use some new players. Maybe as well that the coach will take the opportunity to compromise with the managers of the major players, and one can imagine that a player like C. Ronaldo would not play more than half of the game, so that he would remain fit.

Indeed, all in all, it's rather a good thing to play the last game against the favourite !

/Paul

[molon_lave]

After Poland scored on a 88' min equaliser to draw Portugal 2-2, forget about Portugal qualifying prior to there match with Finland. That final match will have a impact.

[molon_lave]

Now the situation goes like this, we want Finland to beat Poland and take first place, hoping both Portugal and Serbia end in a draw. If this happens, Finland will be in good shape. The standings would look like this if I projected the way I said:

Finland 21 pts
Poland 20 pts
Portugal 17 pts
Serbia 16 pts
Both Portugal and Serbia have a game to makeup

[jakub]

no no no no we don't want finland to beat poland. we want poland to beat finland

[aniorek]

no no no no we don't want finland to beat poland. we want poland to beat finland

Exactly! Polish team will prove that last year's game vs. Finland was just a small misunderstanding.

POLSKA!!!

[molon_lave]

no no no no we don't want finland to beat poland. we want poland to beat finland

I want Finland to beat Poland so they can lead Group A and have a better chance to qualify. Poland loss would not put them out of contention, you still can win the final 3 matches.

[molon_lave]

I read that Poland will be short handed of defenders (4 to be exact). You are aware that Finland defense is very strong, they can shut you down quickly like what they did against Serbia.

[molon_lave]

I've received messages from a few Finnish friends here in Houston that they said Mika Vayrynen might play limited minutes since he's not fully fit to play. Roy Hodgson will be depolying an attacking formation, 4-3-3. He is looking for the victory, Finland definitly has to come out of the gates and go for the goals.

[jakub]

I want Finland to beat Poland so they can lead Group A and have a better chance to qualify.

and that's exactly a reason why i want poland to beat finland

[aniorek]

I read that Poland will be short handed of defenders (4 to be exact). You are aware that Finland defense is very strong, they can shut you down quickly like what they did against Serbia.

Hmmm, both Serbs and Finns played VERY poorly on Saturday, so Serbian strikers posed no danger whatsoever for that strong Finnish defense.

You cannot disagree that the absence of Jari Litmanen has consequences for the whole Finnish team.

Which is nice.

[Mark I.]

http://www.eurovolley2007.ru/index1.shtml

[molon_lave]

Jari Litmanen cannot be with Finland forever, he's 37 and he will retire from football at the end of summer 2008. Mika Vayrynen will become the new team captain for Finland, he's more important than Litmanen.