HELSINKI: The temperatures are plummeting and the days are getting shorter as another harsh winter approaches in Finland.
Expectations around the country’s soccer team are rising, though, like never before.
On Friday, Finland could seal a place in the finals of a major soccer tournament for the first time in its history. All that’s needed is a home win over Liechtenstein, one of the world’s weakest teams, in Helsinki and the Finns will take their place in next year’s European Championship.
After so many past disappointments, it is a day many in this Nordic country of 5.5 million inhabitants — better known for its hockey team, rally drivers and javelin throwers — thought would never arrive.
It is one that could transcend soccer, changing the mentality of a nation.
“There are always skeptics — with a sort of ‘Ah, they are never going to do it anyway’ feeling — in more or less everything we do, whether it is music, anything,” said former Finland player Aki Riihilahti, who is now CEO of Finnish champion HJK Helsinki. “The Finnish nature is that only when there comes an external acknowledgement of an achievement do we go and support it.
“For what this will mean, it is more important mentally than factually.”
Finland has had better teams down the years, on paper anyway. They’ve had more celebrated players, too — think of Jari Litmanen, the silky playmaker for Ajax and Barcelona, and Sami Hyypia, the defensive stalwart at Liverpool. Yet getting to a World Cup or European Championship has been beyond them, despite more than 80 years of trying.
Finland remains, somewhat embarrassingly, the only major Nordic country to have never qualified for a major tournament.
So what’s changed? The hiring of a former primary school teacher as coach has plenty to do with it.
Markku Kanerva was promoted to the job in December 2016, having previously been an assistant with the team and a former player in the 1980s and ‘90s. He inherited a team that had gone all of 2016 without a win and also one that was about to lose some of its best players. One midfielder, Roman Eremenko, received a two-year ban for testing positive for cocaine in 2016; another, Perparim Hetemaj, would go on to retire in early 2018 to focus on his club career.
Kanerva took a pragmatic view of the team, picking players according to their individual strengths rather than a pre-existing style and reverting to a straightforward 4-4-2 formation. His approach was based on hard work and strong defensive shape, and relied on the country’s most high-profile player — striker Teemu Pukki — poaching some goals at the other end.
Kanerva also approaches coaching like he would teaching, encouraging his players to interact more, take responsibility, and learn what they have done wrong so they can improve.
The results have been striking. Finland won its group in the inaugural UEFA Nations League competition after winning its opening four qualifying games, earning promotion to League B and guaranteeing a playoff spot for Euro 2020 that might not be necessary.
In Euro 2020 qualifying, the Finns reacted to an opening loss to Italy by winning four straight Group J games without conceding a goal. After eight games, they are in second place, behind already qualified Italy but five points ahead of both Bosnia-Herzegovina and Armenia. With two teams advancing automatically, Finland needs one win from its final two qualifiers over the coming days, starting with last-place Liechtenstein, to make history.
“This is the missing piece of the puzzle,” said Marco Casagrande, general secretary of the Football Association of Finland. “All the other things in our sports we have managed to do, but this is something that’s still separating us from being a real sports country.”
Finland’s underperformance on the international stage was bought into sharp focus by Iceland, a tiny Nordic brother with a population of just 330,000, reaching both Euro 2016 and last year’s World Cup.
Casagrande recalls speaking to his colleagues at the Icelandic FA, asking them: “So what’s your secret?“
“It didn’t help,” Casagrande said, “when everyone was saying, ‘You are losing all the games and Iceland is going to the Euros. Come on guys, what are you doing?’“
Iceland’s rise was based on a strong collective effort combined with a sprinkle of stardust by its one standout player, Gylfi Sigurdsson, and Finland is pretty much the same.
While goalkeeper Lukas Hradecký, who plays in Germany for Bayer Leverkusen, gets plenty of plaudits, most of the spotlight falls on Pukki, the hard-working striker who has scored seven goals in qualifying and made a strong start to his first season in the Premier League with Norwich.
“Teemu Pukki is really somebody who everybody seems to love,” said Riihilahti, who also played in England’s top division with Crystal Palace, “and has been adopted as the Finnish savior who is bringing us to the promised land.”
When Finland won the men’s hockey world championship this year for the first time since 2011, there were wild celebrations in central Helsinki as champagne-swilling fans braved the cold weather by stripping off and taking a swim in the fountain and climbing on the famous Havis Amanda statue.
Expect more of the same if the country’s soccer players finally make the long-awaited international breakthrough.
“Finnish people would all celebrate like a big festival,” Riihilahti said. “It will go crazy.”
‘It will go crazy’: Finland close to 1st major soccer finals
‘It will go crazy’: Finland close to 1st major soccer finals
- All that’s needed is a home win over Liechtenstein, one of the world’s weakest teams, in Helsinki and the Finns will take their place in next year’s European Championship
- It is a day many in this Nordic country of 5.5 million inhabitants — better known for its hockey team, rally drivers and javelin throwers — thought would never arrive
Phil Foden to fore as Man City thrash Brighton 4-0 to stay on course for another Premier League title
- It’s 16 goals for the campaign and 24 in 48 games in all club competitions this season for Foden, who delivered another clinical display in front of England coach Gareth Southgate
- City have five games remaining — one more than Arsenal and Liverpool — and, on current form, are showing no sign of slipping up in the final stretch
BRIGHTON, England: Manchester City chalked up another big win in their pursuit of an unprecedented fourth straight Premier League title, with Phil Foden continuing his career-best scoring season with two goals in a 4-0 thrashing of Brighton on Thursday.
Foden’s first-half double came between goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Julian Alvarez as City extended their unbeaten run in the league to 18 games and trimmed the gap to leader Arsenal to one point. Liverpool are two points further back in third after their title chances were damaged by a 2-0 loss at Everton on Wednesday.
City have five games remaining — one more than Arsenal and Liverpool — and, on current form, are showing no sign of slipping up in the final stretch that still contains trips to Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Tottenham as well as home matches against Wolverhampton and West Ham.
Win all five of those games and City are the champion again. No team have ever won four successive top-flight titles in the history of English soccer.
“I trust my team,” De Bruyne said. “All respect to Arsenal and Liverpool, they are amazing ... but we need to do our job.
“We just need to keep going, not get ahead of ourselves, be humble and work hard.”
Since a 0-0 draw with Arsenal at home on March 31, City have won four straight league games and scored 17 goals in the process.
Pep Guardiola’s team kept up that hot streak without the injured Erling Haaland — the league’s joint-top scorer with 20 goals — and that allowed Foden to potentially join the race for the Golden Boot.
It’s 16 goals for the campaign and 24 in 48 games in all club competitions this season for Foden, who delivered another clinical display in front of England coach Gareth Southgate at Amex Stadium — seven weeks out from the start of the European Championship.
“This year I’ve moved inside and it’s helped my game massively,” Foden said of a positional tweak that sees him often play centrally rather out on the wing. “I feel I can get a lot of goals there.”
De Bruyne scored his first-ever headed goal in the Premier League when he met Kyle Walker’s right-wing cross to give City the lead in the 17th and Foden made it 2-0 in the 26th when his shot from a free kick deflected in off the back of Brighton midfielder Pascal Gross.
Foden added a third in the 34th by curling home a low finish from just inside the area after Brighton lost possession attempting to play out from the back.
Alvarez, starting up front in place of Haaland, slotted in for 4-0 in the 62nd after Walker was given space to roam down the right wing and cut inside before sliding in to challenge goalkeeper Jason Steele and get the ball across to the Argentina striker.
The Premier League is the only one of Europe’s top five leagues where the title race is still realistically up for grabs. Bayer Leverkusen have won the German league, Inter Milan have clinched the Italian title, while Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain have 11-point leads in Spain and France, respectively.
“Many things can happen,” Guardiola said about the title race. “What happened with Liverpool (losing recently) against Crystal Palace and Everton can happen to us. It can happen to Arsenal. No one is safe.”
Brazil’s Romario returns to training at age 58, scores twice and keeps sharp tongue
- Romario: My biggest goal here is to have the chance to play with my son
- America will play their first league match on May 18. Romario became its president in 2023, aiming to get the club back in the state’s first division
SAO PAULO: Brazilian soccer hero Romario returned to training on Thursday at age 58, almost two decades after he retired from the sport, and needed just a few minutes to show he remains a prolific scorer.
The 1994 World Cup winner turned politician netted two goals as he practiced with much younger players at struggling Rio de Janeiro club America, of which he is the president.
America will play in Rio state’s second division championship this year. Romarinho, one of the sons of the former Barcelona star, is in its squad.
“My biggest goal here is to have the chance to play with my son,” an exhausted Romario told journalists after the training. “Many athletes have that objective. LeBron James wants to play with his son next year (in the NBA). Rivaldo also had that chance. I want that too.”
Also famous for his sharp tongue, which has Pele, Zico and Mario Zagallo among its victims, Romario chose himself as a target this time.
“I am very tired. I will soon need a stretcher to pick me up,” he said. “For a man who has not trained for 16 years, in general, I managed to run a little. But I want to make one thing very clear — I will not play the entire championship. My idea is to play for a few minutes in some matches. What matters the most in this competition is America.”
America will play their first league match on May 18. Romario became its president in 2023, aiming to get the club back in the state’s first division with local giants Flamengo, Fluminense, Vasco da Gama and Botafogo.
Both goals Romario scored came in a reduced pitch section of the practice, both in his old style; sharp finishes from close range in the penalty box.
Famously not a fan of penalty kicks, Romario has apparently changed his mind for his return to the sport.
“If there is a penalty, our club president will ask to take it,” Romario jokingly said. “If the coach says no, he will be fired and the club president will take the penalty anyway.”
Indonesia and Japan advance at U23 Asian Cup. South Korea out of contention for Paris Olympics
- Indonesia reached the last four by winning the shootout 11-10 against South Korea after the score remained tied 2-2 through extra time
- Japan knocked out hosts Qatar 4-2 after extra time to stay on course for an eighth straight Olympic appearance
- On Friday, defending champions Saudi Arabia face Uzbekistan, while Iraq meet Vietnam
DOHA: South Korea will miss the men’s soccer tournament at the Olympics for the first time since 1984 after losing a penalty shootout to Indonesia at the Under-23 Asian Cup quarterfinals on Thursday.
The top three teams will qualify for the Paris Games, and Indonesia reached the last four by winning the shootout 11-10 after the score remained tied 2-2 through extra time.
Rafael Struick put Indonesia ahead after 15 minutes only for Komang Teguh’s own goal to level the scoreline after 45 minutes. There was still time before the break, however, for Struick to score again.
Jeong Sang-bin equalized with 14 minutes remaining despite Korea being reduced to 10 men minutes earlier when Lee Young-jun was shown a red card.
Lee Kang-hee missed in the shootout, leaving Pratama Arhan to score the winner.
Earlier, Japan knocked out hosts Qatar 4-2 after extra time to stay on course for an eighth straight Olympic appearance.
Fuki Yamada scored early for Japan but Ahmed Al-Rawi and Jassem Gaber netted to put Qatar ahead.
Seiji Kimura made it 2-2 midway through the second half and after the tie went into extra-time, Mao Hosoya put Japan ahead once more and Kotaro Uchino scored after 113 minutes to secure the win for Japan.
On Friday, defending champions Saudi Arabia face Uzbekistan, while Iraq meet Vietnam.
The team that finish fourth will face Guinea in a playoff in May with a place in Paris at stake.
Joel Embiid scores 50 points to lead 76ers past Knicks 125-114 to cut deficit to 2-1
PHILADELPHIA: Joel Embiid scored 50 points, making all four 3-point attempts and scoring 18 in a potential series-shifting third quarter on Thursday night to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 125-114 win over the New York Knicks in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round series.
Embiid boldly stated “we’re going to win this series” after the 76ers dropped Game 2.
With one of the finest postseason efforts of his career, Embiid became the third player to ever score 50 points against the Knicks in the postseason and kept the hope of a Philadelphia series comeback very much alive.
The Knicks lead the series 2-1. Game 4 is Sunday in Philadelphia.
Embiid was 13 of 19 from the floor overall, made 19 of 21 free throws and hit five 3-pointers.
Last season’s NBA MVP, Embiid finally turned the crowd — which had a distinct New York flavor in South Philly --- into one rocking for the home team. The All-Star center played more like a sharpshooting guard in the third, when he saved the season.
The Sixers pecked away at a three-point halftime deficit when Embiid got hot. He hit one 3 and then two more — — the last two with assists from Tyrese Maxey — that gave the Sixers an 82-72 lead. His fourth 3 pushed the lead to 98-85.
Not bad for a career 34 percent 3-point shooter.
Maxey added two 3s in the quarter and the 76ers went a whopping 9 of 12 from beyond the arc for 43 points.
After getting punished in New York, the Sixers pushed back.
Embiid’s bulky left knee brace helped sturdy the 7-footer after dealing with injuries all season. He mostly kept his cool and was in the mix on both ends of the court all game. Embiid had 17 points, three fouls and he even grabbed Mitchell Robinson and dragged him to the court in a first half where they again weren’t good enough to look like a team that could beat the Knicks.
The Knicks won the first two games in New York, highlighted by Donte DiVincenzo’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in Game 2. Against the backdrop of two Villanova national championship banners they helped the program win, the trio of former Wildcats were largely stifled in Game 3.
Jalen Brunson did lead the Knicks with 39 points and 13 assists. Josh Hart — whose spectacular 3-point shooting in New York was an unexpected bonus for the Knicks — scored 20 points but DiVincenzo had five.
They must felt at home inside a Sixers’ arena that sounded more like Madison Square Garden as chants of “Let’s Go Knicks!’ echoed throughout the arena for a chunk of the game. John Starks wildly cheered them on from his courtside.
The Sixers countered with Allen Iverson.
But nostalgia didn’t matter much between two teams that played each other in a postseason series for the first time since 1989.
This one could be shaping up as one to remember.
Embiid was serenaded with “MVP! MVP!” chants as he stretched the lead from the free-throw line in the fourth quarter.
“Joel Embiid has been banned from the Empire State Building,” was posted on the skyscraper’s social media account.
Maxey finished with 25 points. Kelly Oubre Jr. had 15 points and showed no lingering effects following his reported involvement in a car crash after Game 2.
Game 3 was played without any significant disputes with the officiating after the NBA said the referees missed several late calls in Game 2.
Man City crush Brighton to close gap on Arsenal in title race
- Guardiola: “It is a good result for us, really good”
Pep Guardiola’s side were in imperious mood at the Amex Stadium from the moment Kevin De Bruyne headed them into an early lead.
England forward Foden struck twice before the interval to put the result beyond doubt.
Julian Alvarez ended his goal drought after half-time to ensure injured striker Erling Haaland wasn’t missed as his absence with a muscle problem stretched to a second successive game.
“It is a good result for us, really good,” Guardiola said. “I said before, what we have done in the past, it does not mean we will do it in the future.
“We know the margins are so tight. We have to win every one. Each game we are closer.”
Liverpool’s surprise defeat at Everton on Wednesday was a welcome boost for City in the title race after Arsenal had thrashed Chelsea 5-0 on Tuesday.
And City’s stroll on the south coast kept the destiny of the title in their hands.
Guardiola’s team, who have a game in hand on both Arsenal and third-placed Liverpool, will be crowned champions for an unprecedented fourth successive season if they win their last five matches.
With at least four goals in each of their last four league games, City are rounding into form at just the right moment once again.
But Guardiola warned: “What happened to Liverpool, two defeats in a row, it can happen to Arsenal, it can happen to us.
“What is important is that still we are there. There are a lot of games to play.”
Next up for City, who are unbeaten in 18 league games, is a trip to Nottingham Forest on Sunday, while Arsenal head to Tottenham just hours earlier.
Guardiola has bemoaned the “unacceptable” fixture schedule that he believes puts his players’ health at risk, blaming the pile-up for their sluggish performance in Saturday’s 1-0 win against Chelsea in the FA Cup semifinals.
While City searched for the energy to propel them a step closer to the title, Brighton couldn’t have been any fresher as they played for the first time in 12 days.
But there was no sign of any weariness from the champions as they took the lead with a typically eye-catching move in the 17th minute.
Foden took possession 30 yards from goal and drifted toward the right flank, where his astute pass found Kyle Walker’s run.
Walker floated a pin-point cross into the area and De Bruyne timed his run perfectly as the Belgian’s diving header lifted the ball over Brighton keeper Jason Steele into the roof of the net.
De Bruyne’s fourth goal in his last five games marked the first time the midfielder had scored with his head in his Premier League career.
In a rare moment of concern for the City defense, Brighton nearly snatched an immediate equalizer, but Lewis Dunk’s header was too close to Ederson.
Guardiola’s men doubled their lead in the 26th minute thanks to a stroke of luck when Foden won a dubious free-kick.
Foden didn’t waste the opportunity, unleashing a powerful shot that took a wicked deflection off Pascal Gross as it flashed past the wrong-footed Steele.
The England forward’s 23rd goal in all competitions this season was followed by his 24th eight minutes later.
City’s relentless pressing panicked Brighton’s Valentin Barco into surrendering possession to Bernardo Silva and Foden seized on the loose ball, driving a clinical finish into the far corner from 12 yards.
Alvarez had scored once in his previous 16 games and Haaland’s replacement ended that barren run with his first league goal since January in the 62nd minute.
Walker lost control of the ball after breaking into the area, but his lunging tackle stopped Steele collecting it and Alvarez pounced to slot home from close range.
