SWNT on Tour: Finland Preview
Fresh off a 3-0 victory over Northern Ireland Scotland will look to make it four wins from four with victory over Finland in Tampere on Tuesday night.
In this fourth instalment of the SWNT on Tour Summer 2023 Series we take a whistle stop look at Tuesday night’s opposition Finland, a side who in recent times have had Scotland’s number but find themselves in a period of transition following their own World Cup disappointment.
What’s Our History with the Finns?
Scotland have a contextually long history with Tuesday night’s opponents having faced them eleven times over the course of the last eighteen years. That run began in 2005 in the western port city of Turku where Scotland would fall to a 2-0 friendly defeat. Finland have maintained the upper hand ever since, in fact Scotland have managed just one victory in the eleven contests between the sides.
That victory would come in a 2011 friendly contest as Anna Signeul, who would later go on to manage Finland against Scotland during Euro 2021 qualifying, led Scotland to a 7-2 friendly victory in 2011 with current Scotland captain Rachel Corsie amongst the scorers. That sole win aside there have been two draws in 2006 and 2008 with Finland winning the eight remaining encounters including a pair of 1-0 victories during the aforementioned Euro qualifying campaign as Finland would go on to qualify top of the group with best seeded Scotland finishing third.
Why are they not at the World Cup?
This game only exists as a result of both sides failure to reach this summer’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand and it would be the Republic of Ireland that would also end Finland’s World Cup hopes. In a winner takes all encounter at the Tallaght Stadium a 1-0 victory for the Irish would see them pip the Finn’s to second spot behind group winners Sweden with Ireland’s play-off path to the World Cup taking them via Hampden, courtesy of a 1-0 victory in Glasgow.
That defeat in Dublin would end a hugely disappointing campaign for the Finns who, despite being European Championship regulars and semi-finalists in 2005, have never made it to a World Cup tournament.
What’s happened since that World Cup disappointment then?
Following that defeat the Finns would end qualifying with a thumping 5-0 defeat to Sweden on home turf. That loss coupled with a feeling that Head Coach Anna Signeul had taken the side as far as it could in its current guise saw the Swede depart with former WU16 & U17 Head Coach Marko Saloranta taking over in interim charge.
Under Saloranta Finland have now gone seven games undefeated. They would draw 1-1 with Wales in the south of Spain before a resounding series of victories against Croatia, Hungary and Romania would see them claim the Cyprus Cup, an invitational competition viewed at a similar level to the Pinatar Cup in which Scotland were competing at the same time.
The quality of their opposition would take a step up with a duo of victories over Slovakia before a 2-1 victory away to Iceland last week. An Eveliina Summanen raker and a Jutta Rantala goal would secure the victory in Reykjavik, although the result could have been very different if Wolfsburg forward Sveindis Jonsdottir had been less wasteful, the Icelandic striker having penetrated the Finnish backline on a number of occasions only to be denied by a combination of Tinja-Riikka Korpela and a lack of composure.
So what can we expect from Finland in Tampere?
While Scotland and Northern Ireland came into Friday night’s contest at Dens’ Park with the bulk of their squads made up of players returning to play for the first time this season, the Finnish Kansallinen and Swedish Damallsvenskan, where a number of Saloranta’s squad ply their trade, are now in the full throngs of their summer season although key players such as Tottenham Hotspur’s Summanen, who scored the winner the last time the two sides met on Finnish soil, and Liverpool defender Emma Koivisto will also be at the “finding their feet” stage of pre-season.
Veteran striker Linda Sällström continues to lead the line partnered by young padowan and club team-mate at Vittsjö GIK, Rantala who with eight goals and five assists has been her club side’s most potent attacking threat.
Structurally Saloranta has developed a fluctuating 4-4-2 system during his interim spell in charge with Summanen operating at the base of a midfield four that can alternate between flat and diamond variations; turning 4’s into 3’s and 1’s.
Working out moments of defensive hesitation continue to be a point of development for Scotland, as evidenced by a couple of sketchy moments against Northern Ireland, and in Rantala and Sällström the Finns have goal getters with the ability to take advantage. It will also be interesting to see how Scotland look to navigate the challenge of Portland Thorns defender and current three-time Finnish Women’s Footballer of the Year, Natalie Kuikka.
Having started her career as a winger the defender was converted into a centre back by former Thorns boss, Mark Parsons, however more recently she has moved closer to her natural habitat at full-back, and it was on the right side of the defence where she would be deployed against Iceland. Scotland have shown in recent games that attack can be the best form of defence and whoever is tasked with continuing the momentum built down the flanks during victory over Northern Ireland will find Kuikka a tenacious foe.
So what’s going to happen on Tuesday?
It’s a friendly with both sides looking to build momentum ahead of their respective Nations League campaigns with Finland beginning life in the inaugural edition of the tournament in League B against Romania, Slovakia and Croatia. Against Northern Ireland Scotland held the majority of the possession but against the Finns that balance should be more even.
A win for Scotland would mark up just a second victory in twelve attempts and should be viewed as another step in the right direction following a slow start to the year. Both the Martinéz Losa and his players have regularly referenced the importance these friendlies have in strengthening on-pitch relationships and collective sharpness and the sounds from within the Scotland camp in recent months been mainly positive.
A win will add an on-pitch bass-line to the current mood music of incremental progress. Yes, it is only a friendly, but defeat may provide a reminder that there is still the occasional bum note to come in Scotland’s current evolution. Progress is of course rarely linear, and if a defeat should come recent results mean there will be few looking to change the conductor of the orchestra at this stage. A victory though will reaffirm that after a period where the notes on the SWNT symphony have appeared to be strewn across conflicting bars, sweet harmonies both on and off the pitch are starting to sound in tune.
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How are you feeling ahead of Tuesday’s game? Is it win or bust or are you heartened enough by recent results to accept a bump in the road? Fire your comments below.