Haka - VPS

Haka: 3-0-3-1-3-0 --- VPS:3-3-3-0-1-0

Haka - VPS 13-4-3. League 22.04 2009 VPS-Haka 0-1

Both teams are heading for this clash after losing their last game at home. In the 1st round Haka took an away 0-1 win from VPS after having received an early red card in a very uneventful game, all in all Haka and VPS have played a lot of their games with not that many goals.

”Since they changed their manager VPS have played excellent football”, says Haka coach Olli Huttunen, ” they have several players who are capable of winning the game by themselves, and we have to be very careful with players like Pekka Kainu and Jussi Aalto.”

The Haka performance against TPS (0-3) was a disappointment. ” There has to be, and will be changes made. What they are you will see on Saturday.”

Haka has no major injury worries.

VPS coach Petri Vuorinen does not want to emphasize the problems of Haka seen on the TV-game against TPS. ” Every game is different and we can not expect them to play that badly against us. I do not think they will be that defensive-minded either, even that their best weapon is their capability of fast counter attacks. We have conceded a lot of goals like that lately and have to be more careful with Haka.”

”Haka have had the same coach for years and is well-known for their organized defense, so this is a test for our strikers how they are going to handle that pressure, ” continues Vuorinen.

VPS are missing defender Jussi Äijälä 10/0 and mf Petteri Forsell 8/1 due suspensions, but the team is healthy and in good condition.

Haka: 1 Janne Korhonen 14/0 – 2 Diego Corpache 14/1 – 21 Pietari Holopainen 11/5- 4 Markus Joenmäki 5/0 - 22 Jarno Mattila 14/0 - 6 Sebastian Strandvall 14/2 - 7 Mikko Innanen 14/2 – 11 Antti Hynynen 13/4 - 10 Mika Mäkitalo 13/2 - 8 Jani Kauppila 14/0 - 9 Niko Ikävalko 12/2

Bench:12 Saku Pesonen (gk) 0/0, 16 Jani Bäckman 8/1, 20 Sami Ristilä 10/1, 3 Petri Viljanen 8/0, 28 Hans Denissen 4/0, 18 Jari Nikkilä 12/0

Unavailable: 5 Kalle Parviainen 0/0, 14 Valeri Minkenen 4/0, 15 Nicolas Kivistö 6/0

Coach : Olli Huttunen


VPS: 1 Henri Sillanpää 10/0 - 8 Jani Lyyski 14/1 – 11 Toni Hahto 11/0 – 16 Jyrki Saranpää 14/1 – 19 Jan Berg 14/0 – 3 Lawrence Smith 10/1 – 7 Tero Koskela 12/1 – 14 Jens Nygård 14/3 - 22 Tony Björk 14/1 - 10 Antonio Inutile 13/3 – 23 Jyri Hietaharju 14/1

Bench:9 Jussi Aalto 7/1, 20 Rikard Lindroos 9/1, 25 Pekka Kainu 9/0, 12 Henrik Moisander (gk) 6/0

Unavailable: 2 Jan Ahlvik 0/0 & 24 Benjamin Slotte 0/0 injured, 4 Jussi Äijälä 10/0 & 6 Petteri Forsell 8/1 suspended

Coaches: Juha Reini & Petri Vuorinen


Despite the efforts made by the coaches this sounds and smells like a boring encounter and both teams are far from sympathetic. Bettingwise the first options in mind are 0-0, under 2.5 and both not to score, but I will take a look at the odds tomorrow.

And the look has been taken. They are clever people at Sbobet. The prices for this game are absolutely correct - well, in line with my estimations at the moment and there is no reason to bet. The limit for Haka straight win - 0.5 is at 1.79 and that is exactly what they offer now. It is closer to value than VPS + 0.5 @ 2.14, so there is always the chance of an odds movement, sometimes they start for silly reasons and there is nothing to do to stop it.



The match will be streamed from the Haka website for a price of 5 e, but be warned, these are the two dullest teams of the Veikkausliiga!

Probably there is also a stream available for free if you look hard enough.