Finland - Netherlands U21 on Friday 9.10.2009

Photo by Lehtikuva/Ilta-Sanomat

EDIT: FT 0-1, match report by Nordic Football News here.


Finland receiced very bad news in the form of their first choice goalkeeper Jukka Lehtovaara´s (TPS Turku) injury.

He will be replaced by an ex-TPS gk Lukas Hradecky from Esbjerg, who is not such a match-winner that anything valuable could be expected from this match for the home side.

Holland beat easily Finland some weeks ago at home, and since then not much has changed, Finland is weakened, they have also lost against Poland and their home match is not getting any media attention and will probably lack support.

Another win for Holland is in the cards, probably with a clear margin.

My pick; Holland - 0.75 @ 1.91

Finland;
Lukas Hradecky, Esbjerg fB – 2 / 0

Paulus Arajuuri, IFK Mariehamn – 6 / 0
Markus Joenmäki, FC Haka – 1 / 0
Mikko Sumusalo, HJK – 1 / 0
Henri Aalto, FC Honka – 5 / 0
Ville Nikkari, FC Inter – 5 / 0
Jukka Raitala, TSG 1899 Hoffenheim – 21 / 0
Joona Toivio, Stormvogels Telstar – 5 / 0
Toni Kolehmainen, AC Oulu – 4 / 0

Sebastian Mannström, FF Jaro – 6 / 0
Riku Riski, TPS – 6 / 1
Joni Kauko, FC Inter – 2 / 0
Jonne Hjelm, Tampere United – 2 / 0
Mika Ojala, FC Inter – 12 / 1

Aleksei Kangaskolkka, Tampere United – 4 / 0
Teemu Pukki, FC Sevilla – 8 / 1
Akseli Pelvas, HJK – 6 / 1
Sakari Mattila, Ascoli Calcio – 6 / 0

Holland:
Vurnon Anita (Ajax)
Nacer Barazite (Arsenal)
Diego Biseswar (Feyenoord)
Daley Blind (Ajax)
Jeffrey Bruma (Chelsea)
Mitchell Donald (Ajax)
Rens van Eijden (N.E.C.)
Marvin Emnes (Middlesbrough)
Leroy Fer (Feyenoord)
Jan-Arie van der Heijden (Willem II)
Daryl Janmaat (sc Heerenveen)
Siem de Jong (Ajax)
Tim Krul (Newcastle United)
Nicky Kuiper (FC Twente)
Sergio Padt (Ajax)
Erik Pieters (PSV)
Kevin Strootman (Sparta Rotterdam)
Georginio Wijnaldum (Feyenoord)
Ricky van Wolfswinkel (FC Utrecht)
Mark van der Maarel (FC Utrecht)

Lads at the football fan forum are proposing the following line-up for Finland;

-------------Pukki-------------
Mannström---Riski---------Ojala
-------Kauko---Kolehmainen----
Raitala--Toivio--Arajuuri--Nikkari
----------Hradecky------------

Where the obvious weak points would be right defender Nikkari and gk Hradecky. Pukki might also feel a bit lonely up front unless Riski can create some magic, which i doubt.

Viikingit - 0.5 @ 1.84

I know there are also oppositing opinions, but I see value in Viikingit tonight.

They are in good form, motivation is 100 %, there is a full squad available and they are a way better team than their hosts KooTeePee.

In the old days Kotka was a tough place to visit, but now these days have gone.

Stormy weather continues, the distance from Vuosaari is an hours drive in a bus, and the stakes are high for the visitors.

Not huge value, but worth taking.

EDIT: Ft 1-0. The winning goal came at 89 minutes, but honestly I must say that it was the best KooTeePee performance for a couple of years and they fully deserved to win. If there were more games left they would be promotion material.

MYPA - JJK on Friday

MYPA (10th) – JJK (12th)

MYPA: 0-0-0-3-0-1
JJK : 3-1-3-0-1-0

H2H: 1-0-1

Last game 13.07.2009 JJK – MYPA 0-1

This is the first round rescheduled game of the season which was cancelled due to terrible pitch conditions in the early spring, and both teams have changed quite significantly from that day. MYPA have taken players to and from their reserve teams trying to find the ideal line-up, and lately they have also signed Antti Okkonen from the Belgian League and Brazilian striker Cleiton. MYPA were dreaming of some success before the season started but the current 10th place in the league makes them to fight off the relegation. They have also already been kicked out of the cup by KuPS.

Last time in the league they met FF Jaro at home, but despite the control and possession they could not find the net and the match ended goalless. Only KuPS with 16 goals have scored less than MYPA who have managed to scored 19 times in the league in the 19 matches played.

JJK started the season with the same personnel which promoted them from Ykkönen last season, it was a nice gesture for the players who had worked hard, and also a test whether they are good enough to stay in the top flight. During the season it became obvious to everyone that there is not enough strength in the squad, and JJK have signed several foreign players during the season in order to survive, but they are far from safe at this point and need more wins to secure their place.

Last weekend JJK lost a bit undeservedly away to Haka 2-1 in the cup and they can concentrate fully in the remaining 7 games of the League. In their last league match they were offered a footballing lesson by FC Honka who won 5-2, and had to make the trip home by wondering how to tighten their shaky defense. Pretty much the only highlights of JJK lately have been the performances of young and promising midfielder Patrick Poutiainen and their Korean striker Nam.

The stakes are getting higher, the match is televised and there should be no major injury worries for either of the teams.

MYPA: 1 Antti Kuismala 18/0 – 4 Antti Uimaniemi 19/0 – 11 Ilari Äijälä 15/4 – 16 Toni Huttunen 19/1 - 6 Tuomo Könönen 18/0 - 25 Antti Okkonen 2/0 - 13 Toni Lindberg 13/2 – 18 Tuomas Aho 18/0 - 7 Ben Webster 18/0 – 14 Tosaint Ricketts 14/5 – 2 Miikka Multaharju 17/0

Bench: 5 Jarno Tuunainen 4/0, 15 Ville Oksanen 16/1, 12 Mika Johansson (gk) 1/0, 8 Ady 12/2, 9 Saku Puhakainen 19/1, 24 Nebi Mustafi 12/1, 20 Felipe Benevedes 2/0, 19 Maxim Votinov 13/2, 26 Cleiton 1/0

Unavailable:, 22 Roope Rautiainen 0/0 loan to MP, 17 Einari Kurittu 1/0 on loan to MP, 3 Sampsa Timoska 8/0, 23 Niko Nakari 6/0 on loan to FC Kuusankoski

Coach : Janne Lindberg

JJK: 30 Mihaly Szerovay 17/0 – 25 Dejan Brankovic 2/0 - 5 Ik Kuyng Nam 18/7 – 7 Anssi Viren 18/1 – 9 Mika Lahtinen 19/3 – 10 Tommi Kari 17/4 – 14 Jukka Sinisalo 18/0 – 19 Christian Sund 17/1 – 13 Tuomas Latikka 18/0 - 23 Patrick Poutiainen 9/1 – 11 Georgij Hristov 6/1

Bench: 31 Antti-Jussi Karnio (gk) 3/0, 12 Sami Myllymäki 0/0, 8 Matti Lähitie 14/0, 21 Toni Koskela 17/0, 18 Zakaria Abahassine 13/0, 16 Niko Markkula 7/0, 3 Janne Hannula 12/0, 22 Shkumbiu Arsllani 3/0, 6 Jukka-Pekka Tuomanen 10/0

Out: 15 Antto Tapaninen 0/0, 24 Niko Kautto 0/0, 17 Hyun-Kwan Kim 4/0 left the team, 4 Markus Paija 7/0 left the team for KaaPo

Coach: Ville Priha

this will be broadcasted as well at 18.00 CET on Friday, but I grabbed already the total, after seeing JJK now several times I wonder if even MYPA manage not to score a couple of times. There was some value on JJK win for some time, but it came quickly back down to current level of + 0,75 @ 2.03 which represents no value whatsover. I am no fan of MYPA, but this looks like a home win to me. Anyway, the only pick for this game is for total market.

o 2.5 @ 2.03

Sunday Picks without explanations

Done explaining too much lately.

TPV - Kemi PS ----> Kemi @ 2.16
TP-47 - PoPa -----> PoPa @ 2.03
RoPS - Haka ------ RoPs + 0,5 @ 1.82
MyPa - MIFK -----> MIFK 0 @ 2.33
VPS - TPS -------> TPS @ 2.23
HJK - JJK under 3 goals @ 1.80

Good luck for me, would like to experience some of it for a change.

EDIT: Veikkausliiga did well, Ykkönen did not.

FC Lahti - MYPA preview

FC Lahti (9th) – MYPA (11th)

Lahti: 3-1-1-1-3-0
MyPa: 0-0-3-0-0-0
H2H:5-4-9
Last game 14.05.2009 2-2

FC Lahti got kicked out of the Europe League on Thursday against Belgian Brugge with a 4-3 aggregate and they can now fully concentrate on the domestic league as their historical european adventures are over for this season. No team could be more welcomed than their local rivals MYPA. Both teams find the themselves from the bottom of the league, having gained 22 and 19 points respectively. Also the goal differences are almost equal, and the games between them have been even and low-scoring in recent years.

The games against Club Brugge were extremely useful, thinks Lahti legend Jari Litmanen after the game on Thursday, ” Unfortunately we could score another goal and go through to the next round, but we got them almost into the panic for the last minutes of the game. Too bad the header from Shala missed the target. These were very useful for us and a learning experience because these are much tougher games than in the domestic league. Everyone from our team must learn from these and want more of them in the future, but now the next important game is on Sunday against MYPA.”

MYPA have been loaning their younger players back and forth to Kakkonen teams MP and KTP in order to give them responsibility and valuable minutes on the pitch. Now it is turn to change the strikers, Maxim Votinov 12/2 will be replaced by Einari Kurittu 0/0 in hoping that someone from the team would find the net. The general feeling at MYPA is not too high, there is almost nothing to gain in the league except staying up anymore, and perhaps passing local rivals FC Lahti.

No new injury worries for neither teams, MYPA is changigng the younger personnel but no one of them have played any bigger role so far.

FC Lahti: 1 Viktor Szentpeteri 11/0 –15 Jukka Vanninen 15/0 – 3 Henri Toivomäki 16/0 - 4 Janne Moilanen 6/0 – 6 Kalle Eerola 14/0 - 13 Jussi Länsitalo 9/2 - 20 Jonne Kemppinen 15/2 – 11 Drilon Shala 17/5 – 14 Konsta Hietanen 16/0 – 19 Riku Heini 12/0 - 17 Eero Korte 17/2

Bench: 21 Kaarlo Rantanen 7/0, 22 Juha Tuomi (gk) 6/0, 16 Jussi Heikkinen 2/0, 9 Rafael 15/3, 2 Heikki Haara 14/1, 12 Toni Huuhka 13/1, 10 Jari Litmanen 9/0, 8 Mohamed Fofana 15/3

Unavailable: 7 Jukka Veltheim 2/0 for the rest of the season,

Coach : Ilkka Mäkelä


MYPA: 1 Antti Kuismala 14/0 – 4 Antti Uimaniemi 15/0 – 11 Ilari Äijälä 12/3 – 13 Toni Lindberg 12/2 – 16 Toni Huttunen 15/1 - 6 Tuomo Könönen 14/0 - 8 Ady 11/2 – 2 Miikka Multaharju 14/0 - 7 Ben Webster 14/0 – 9 Saku Puhakainen 15/0 – 14 Tosaint Ricketts 11/5

Bench: 5 Jarno Tuunainen 1/0, 15 Ville Oksanen 14/0, 12 Mika Johansson (gk) 1/0, 23 Niko Nakari 5/0, 24 Nebi Mustafi 9/1, 18 Tuomas Aho 14/0, 3 Sampsa Timoska 5/0, 17 Einari Kurittu 0/0 (back from loan at KTP)
Unavailable: 20 Felipe Benevedes 2/0 (lent out to MP), 19 Maxim Votinov 12/2 (loan to MP), 22 Roope Rautiainen 0/0 loan to (MP)
Coach : Janne Lindberg

Prediction: MYPA has been so gutless that even a tired Lahti should take care of them.

MIFK - RoPS preview

IFK Mariehamn (6th) – RoPS (13th)

MIFK:1-1-1-1-1-1 --------------- RoPS: 3-0-3-3-0-0

H2H:3-1-2

Last game 10.05.2009 0-0

IFK Mariehamn are breaking all the records this season, they have lost only once so far, but also their draw last week against HJK was 6th in a row! If they draw this one it will the record in Finnish football, and looks very likely that they they have a good chance against RoPS who have been awful on their travels managing to collect only 1 point so far and that came early season at JJK.
”We have probably been trying too hard lately and we are not relaxed enough to score”, ponders IFK midfielder Tamas Gruburovics, who himself has scored alreay 5 times this season, ” but we were much than HJK in our last 0-0 draw at home and we should had won them quite easily. Let´s hope that our good form continues on Sunday against RoPS and that we score early which would relax us and improve our game.”
IFK will get striker Sasha Anttilainen back from injury, but he is unlikely to start because of lack of match-fitness.

RoPS tried their luck last time at Inter Turku with a 5 man defense line, and it worked quite well for the first 30 minutes. Then Inter found the holes in the defense and had tired the RoPS midfield so well, that it was quite easy for them to score four goals in the space of 30 minutes. RoPS coach Mika Lumijärvi is speechless about the situation;” We have trained the defense, we are concentrating on it to make it work nothing seems to help while we are away from Rovaniemi. Trip to Mariehamn will be a very challenging one for us.”
RoPS will get back Ville Syväjärvi 13/0, Janne Turpeeniemi 11/0 and Mika-Matti Maisonvaara 14/1 who were unavailable last time around for varied reasons, but will be missing Christopher Musonda 17/3 due to suspension.
MIFK : 29 Gustav Långbacka 16/0 - 24 Mate Dujilo 12/1 - 6 Marcus Olofsson 15/1 – 22 Alexandros Pappas 15/0 – 23 Paulus Arajuuri 14/1 – 8 Kenneth Gustavsson 14/1 - 9 Ante Simunac 13/2 – 10 Tamás Gruborovics 16/5 – 11 Mika Niskala 16/1 –14 Arsim Gashi 14/1 - 26 Wilhelm Ingves 14/3
Bench: 15 Amos Ekhalie 8/0, 1 Willis Ochieng (gk) 1/0, 2 Dmytro Voloshyn 8/0, 30 Sasha Anttilainen 7/1
Unavailable: 18 Dmytro Pronevych 2/0, 4 Johan Carlsson 13/0 suspended

Coach : Pekka Lyyski


RoPS: 1 Jung-Huyk Kwom (gk) 16/0 – 4 Stephen Kunda 17/0 – 5 White Simwanza 15/0 – 6 Joonas Ikäläinen 17/2 - 3 Marko Koivuranta 8/0 - 11 Chileshe Chibwe 16/2 - 10 Chanda Mwaba 17/1 - 30 Echiabhi Okodugha 17/4 - 19 Janne Turpeenniemi 11/0 - 8 Nchimunya Mweetwa 8/0 - 17 Ville Syväjärvi 13/0
Bench: 2 Godfrey Chibanga 14/0, 9 Zeddy Saile
ti 13/1, 13 Jukka Yrjänheikki 4/0, 20 Juha-Pekka Inkeröinen 7/0, 12 Kari-Pekka Syväjärvi (gk) 2/0, 16 Jeferson Pires 7/1, 15 Mika- Matti Maisonvaara 14/1, 7 Jarno Tenkula 0/0,
Out: 22 Juuso Majava 0/0, 18 Christopher Musonda 17/3 suspended

Coaches: Zeddy Saileti & Mika Lumijärvi


Prediction: I am not suggesting RoPS anymore away this season no matter the price or handicap for them for reasons better to keep unsaid.

Midweek Pick for Ykkönen - goals galore at Vuosaari!

A goalfest is not really needed, I would happily settle for 3 goals in this derby between FC Viikingit – PK-35 tonight in the ‘rough’ Eastern suburbs of Helsinki.

Like all of my picks, this one is based on a combination of performances on the pitch and statistics. I have seen both teams play, improve, develop and get thrashed over the years, also this season.

Ykkönen is fundamentally a league where scoring has always been a problem and under 2.5 – goals at any given match is the more likely outcome. The reasons are varied, but to cut a long story short it is down to the fact that attacking is more difficult than defending and all the promising goal-scorers have moved elsewhere as Ykkönen is not the most visible or financially rewarding of the leagues, yet it is demanding and requires commitment from the players, in stark contrast to Kakkonen or the lower divisions.

Viikingit have done well results wise lately, and are one of the promotion favourites in Ykkönen this season. They are one of the teams with some capability and desire to go forward, and as the only 100 % local challenger to the mighty HJK they are also widely expected to return to Veikkausliiga. This season they are unbeaten at home – a fact that also might suggest taking a home win here – and they have scored at least twice in their last five home games, the exception being the nowadays quite resilient Atlantis team that PK-35 know very well by now after their last two contests.

Neither of the teams’ goal statistics over all this season points out that there would be any more goals than usual, which forces me to look further and find the head-to-head stats which I usually would not bother even considering relevant.

24.06.09 Ykkönen PK-35 Vantaa vs. FC Viikingit 1:2
06.09.08 Ykkönen PK-35 Vantaa vs. FC Viikingit 1:2
15.06.08 Ykkönen FC Viikingit vs. PK-35 Vantaa 5:2
27.07.06 Ykkönen FC Viikingit vs. PK-35 Vantaa 2:1
01.06.06 Ykkönen PK-35 Vantaa vs. FC Viikingit 0:5
01.09.05 Ykkönen PK-35 Vantaa vs. FC Viikingit 2:0
09.06.05 Ykkönen FC Viikingit vs. PK-35 Vantaa 0:1

Keeping in mind that this is a fiery derby, the fact that Viikingit have found the net with ease and PK-35’s defence looked poor and injury-riddled when they were hit by a goal machine called Atlantis (1-5), I cannot but wonder the line of 2.25 for total goals.

Recommendation:

Viikingit – PK35 over 2.25 goals at 1.83

For you dear readers out there who are not familiar with Asian Handicap Betting, an explanation of the bet; over 2.25 is a combination of two bets, over 2 and over 2.5.

If there are 2 goals in the game, I will lose one half and get the stake back from the other half. To win this I need 3 goals or more, it does not matter which teams scores as it is a match total.

JJK (12th)-KuPS (14th) 5.8.2009

Predicition: A low-scoring game to be expected and the markets have reacted too strongly to the latest good results by JJK.

My estimation for this match is 41-31-28 and with a normal goal expectaction it shows

BIG value in KuPS + 0.5 @ 1.85 which should not last too long. A goalless draw would not surprise me at all! Limit for the + 0.5 bet for KuPS is at 1.69.

Edit: Funnily enough, the odds on KuPS are still rising, + 0.5 @ 1.96 now. I guess your mamas did not warn you of emphazizing too much the latest results? KuPS is not a quality team really, but better than JJK.


JJK : 0-0-0-3-1-3 --------------- KuPS: 0-3-0-1-1-1

H2H: 1-0-2

Last Game 10.5.2009 KuPs – JJK 2-0

Extremely important match for both teams, JJK is just above the relegation zone with 14 points and the visitors KuPS are occupying the straight relegation spot at 14th with 10 points in the bag. The teams have met once this season, in May at Kuopio KuPS won comfortably 2-0 with goal by strikers Ilja Venäläinen and Pele Koljonen and the mood at JJK camp was depressed at that time, they felt JJK did not belong to the topflight and that they would have no chances of survival.

Lately things have changed. Both teams have strengthened their teams by signing foreign players. JJK have concentrated in buying hidden gems from the Balkans while KuPS are reaching for survival by shopping from Africa, and it looks like that both teams have succeeded and their performances are picking up. JJK have gained 7 points in their last three matches against top teams Inter, TPS and Haka, and the future looks bright again. KuPS have not lost in their last three matches either, but they have dropped a lot of points by late equalizing goals from the visiting teams.

The key players in this are game are the new signings. Georgi Hristov has brought a lot of skill and control to the JJK attack which helps the whole team, and for the Kuopio side Nigerian striker Dickson Nwakaeme 2/1 has been desbribed as the strongest player ever in the Veikkausliiga and he is capable of winning the matches almost by himself.

JJK have no no new injury worries, for KuPS the injury of important striker Pele Koljonen 14/4 is definitely bad news as he was about to find the net finally also this season. Another new signing Raphael Udah 1/0 will probably take his place in the opening line-up

JJK: 30 Mihaly Szerovay 14/0 - 3 Janne Hannula 9/0 - 5 Ik Kuyng Nam 15/6 – 7 Anssi Viren 16/1 – 9 Mika Lahtinen 16/3 – 10 Tommi Kari 16/4 – 14 Jukka Sinisalo 15/0 – 19 Christian Sund 14/1 – 13 Tuomas Latikka 15/0 - 6 Jukka-Pekka Tuomanen 9/0 – 11 Georgij Hristov 3/0

Bench: 31 Antti-Jussi Karnio (gk) 3/0, 12 Sami Myllymäki 0/0, 8 Matti Lähitie 12/0, 21 Toni Koskela 15/0, 4 Markus Paija 7/0, 18 Zakaria Abahassine 11/0, 16 Niko Markkula 7/0

Out: 15 Antto Tapaninen 0/0, 24 Niko Kautto 0/0, 17 Hyun-Kwan Kim 4/0 left the team

Coach: Ville Priha


KuPS: 1 Ville Iiskola 15/0 – 8 Tero Taipale 17/0 – 20 Miikka Ilo 16/1 - 3 Janne Reinikainen 15/0 - 4 Patrik Turunen 13/0 – 15 Ollo 13/0 – 28 Raphael Udah 1/0 – 10 Ilja Venäläinen 15/4 - 27 Segun Ikudehinbu 5/0 - 7 Miikka Turunen 15/2 - 26 Dickson Nwakaeme 2/1

Bench: 17 Jussi Kolari 0/0, 23 Jussi-Pekka Savolainen 14/0, 12 Joonas Pöntinen (gk) 2/0, 24 Atte Hoivala 7/0, 6 Tuomas Kuparinen 12/0, 22 Jyrki Juvonen 1/0, 13 Betim Aliju 9/0, 9 Balazs Balogh 12/1

Out: 5 Jani Hartikainen 10/0 for the rest of the season, 21 Jesse Miettinen 0/0, 2 Joni Nissinen 1/0, 11 Pele Koljonen 14/4

Coach: Esa Pekonen

VPS - FC Lahti preview

VPS (10th) – Lahti (8th)

VPS: 3-0-1-0-3-0 ------ Lahti: 0-3-1-1-1-3

H2H: 5-3-12

Last game 7.5.2009 Lahti – VPS 0-0


Edit: update! Lahti rests a lot of players, Litmanen stays home, Fofana suspended, Toivomäki and Moilanen injured. Take VPS!

VPS results have been like a roller-coaster lately, and the coach Petri Vuorinen described his team as junior team because of the inconsistency. Also the captain Tero Koskela finds room for improvement;” against Honka we tried be active and press them hard. It was not the most succesful of strategies, ” he says about the 3-0 loss at Honka last week, which came after a 3-0 victory away at Haka.

VPS have no new injuries since last week and have almost the full squad available.

FC Lahti have been travelling a lot lately. During last week they have been both in Lapland to meet RoPS and in Belgium to play Brugge in the Europe League. In their european fixture they managed a promising 3-2 loss, and in order to keep their european hopes alive for the 2nd leg at home on Thursday they will rest as many players as possible. The star Jari Litmanen 9/0 is not likely to travel to Vaasa at all and the other key striker Rafael will probably start on the bench.

It does not necessarily mean that are giving up or that will lose for sure, against RoPS they did the same thing and managed to get away with a valuable 0-1 win. The only absentee for sure is md Fofana 15/3 who is suspended.


VPS: 1 Henri Sillanpää 12/0 - 8 Jani Lyyski 16/1 – 11 Toni Hahto 12/0 – 19 Jan Berg 16/0 – 3 Lawrence Smith 12/2 – 7 Tero Koskela 14/1 – 14 Jens Nygård 16/3 - 22 Tony Björk 16/1 - 10 Antonio Inutile 15/3 – 23 Jyri Hietaharju 15/1- 20 Rikard Lindroos 11/1

Bench:9 Jussi Aalto 9/1, 25 Pekka Kainu 11/0, 12 Henrik Moisander (gk) 6/0, 4 Jussi Äijälä 11/0, 6 Petteri Forsell 9/1

Unavailable: 2 Jan Ahlvik 0/0 & 24 Benjamin Slotte 0/0, 16 Jyrki Saranpää 14/1

Coaches: Juha Reini & Petri Vuorinen



FC Lahti: 22 Juha Tuomi (gk) 6/0 – 15 Jukka Vanninen 14/0 – 21 Kaarlo Rantanen 6/0 -12 Toni Huuhka 12/1 – 6 Kalle Eerola 13/0 - 13 Jussi Länsitalo 8/2- 20 Jonne Kemppinen 14/2 – 11 Drilon Shala 16/5 – 14 Konsta Hietanen 15/0 – 19 Riku Heini 11/0 - 17 Eero Korte 16/2

Bench:16 Jussi Heikkinen 2/0, 9 Rafael 14/3, 2 Heikki Haara 13/1, 1 Viktor Szentpeteri 10/0

Unavailable: 7 Jukka Veltheim 2/0 for the rest of the season, 10 Jari Litmanen 9/0?, 8 Mohamed Fofana 15/3 suspended, 3 Henri Toivomäki 16/0, 4 Janne Moilanen 6/0

Coach : Ilkka Mäkelä

Prediction: Definitely time to act with Lahti resting so many players. They managed to get an away win at RoPS with luck and RoPS is even worse team than VPS, but definitely value in VPS-0,25 @ at 2.05 Sbobet!

Atlantis!

Yes, I am thick.

Bwin offers 8.25 for Atlantis at PK-35 on Sunday. This is a replay of last night, when PK-35 stole a winner at 90th minute despite being on the receiving end for most of the game.

Worth a teaser.

Canbet offered 10.50 which is madness, and probably long gone.

EDIT: PK-35 - Atlantis 1-5. Yes. 1 - 5.


Reports and comments in finnish here

Midweek Pick – Atlantis, to be bent or not to be?

Like Saturday’s pick, this is not the most obvious of choices. The club is bottom of the table, they have been in turmoil for years for different reasons. Almost nobody likes them that much, and even their home support is non-existent if we leave out the few soccer-moms and the friends of the players.

This season has been even more .. well… interesting. Early in the summer the coach was allowed to leave, the new coach introduced a bus load of new players from Lithuania – his own native country – and another load of Atlantis players decided to abandon the club in which they saw no future not for themselves, given that they had not been paid for quite some time. The FA allowed them to break their contracts and look for new teams.

As a result of all of this Atlantis was withdrawn from most bookies offerings. There were some brave individuals still selling and buying it at Betfair, but the general opinion of the club was… careful, cautious. Many people in the business talked about worst case scenarios, remembering the case of a certain Chinese businessman getting involved in a Finnish football club called Allianssi a couple of years back. That was a sad story about corruption and fixing games professionally, a lesson to be learned.

A couple of months have passed by. The Lithuanians have not gained many new friends in the country. The team has been seen by some as a joke, a disgrace, something that should not exist. The results are poor, the performances in the beginning were awful. Nothing was well or peaceful in the Atlantis camp.

I must admit, I have been suspicious about all of this. Being a football romantic myself I do want to believe in honest games and see the players do their best. All of the players, including goalkeepers. All the staff, coaches, agents, directors. There are bent people in the business, but let us suppose this is not the case and see if there is anything to be found bettingwise of this derby between Atlantis and PK-35.

The bookies offered last week prices of more than 5 for Atlantis home win, and seems like they have learned nothing from that game as there is still 5.00 at Stan James for Atlantis. I know, they know their business and some of them are very well aware of the improvement at Atlantis, but they can not offer too big odds for PK-35 either for risk management reasons.

In the last weeks´s game KPV were slightly better in the first half undeservedly winning it 0-2, but after a 20 minutes long strategy session at the half-time break the team that came out of the Atlantis dressing-room was performing the best football seen at this level in this country this season. They scored early, they hit the post, one of their goals was disallowed, they were not awarded the penalty they fully deserved. They ran over KPV, they should have won comfortably, and KPV is a quality team.

An outstanding performance, which is rewarded with being chosen the Puntteri Midweek Pick. I am sure they must be proud!

Atlantis is over 5.00 at several bookies which is way too much, my estimation for this match is roughly 34-32-34. Value, but again not a sure winner. No handicaps this time. When the SJ price drops, you will find a bit lower prices at a bookie near you.

Funnily enough, there is a replay next Sunday, as this game has been rescheduled from 10.7.
I know I am bit thick but these odds for Atlantis are pure madness.






Atlantis results so far, which do not support my pick, only my eyes and experience of the game do.

25-07-2009 13:00 Atlantis-KPV 1-2
19-07-2009 15:45 KPV-Atlantis 2-0
15-07-2009 15:30 Viikingit-Atlantis 1-0
10-07-2009 15:30 Atlantis-PK-35 postponed
17-06-2009 15:30 Atlantis-Klubi 04 1-5
14-06-2009 15:30 Atlantis-H-Linna 1-2
07-06-2009 15:30 Oulu-Atlantis 3-0
31-05-2009 15:30 Kiisto-Atlantis 1-1
26-05-2009 15:30 Atlantis-KooTeePee 1-1
21-05-2009 15:30 TP-47-Atlantis 0-1
17-05-2009 15:30 Atlantis-JIPPO 0-2
10-05-2009 15:30 KEPS-Atlantis 2-1
03-05-2009 15:30 Atlantis-PoPa 0-1
24-04-2009 15:30 Viikingit-Atlantis
17-04-2009 15:30 Klubi 04-Atlantis 4-1

The Shirt

Bjørn Heidenstrøm. Yes. A crazy man, a "mental patient". Or is he really?

One of the least known Norwegian football professionals. From Oslo to Cape Town by bike in 10 months time. At the moment he is in St. Petersburg, Russia with Zenit to get some shirts for his collection, in order to build world´s biggest football symbol. More about it on his blog in norwegian. Or the vision in english.

It is all about unity, togetherness, friendship, football family. And help.

For him on his long journey.

For Africa.

For refugees.

If you see this man on his bike, stop him.

A short video at the end of Russian Channel-5 sports news here.

Another greeting from Estonian TV.
Buy him a cold beer. You will get a plenty in return. Stories. A smile. Maybe he can play football with you or with your kids.

Offer him a place on the sofa to sleep for the night. I can guarantee, he sleeps like a baby.

Give him publicity, media coverage. Invite him to TV. Listen to his stories and write about him.

His super flexible route map below. Copied from Swedish newspaper Ekspressen.


Looking at picture again, I have to admit that his beauty comes from the inside. From the warmth of his heart.


The timetable?

God only knows as there is a plenty of time. Today 6th July he is St. Petersburg Russia. Tomorrow he is heading to Tallinn, Estonia. I keep you posted, or simply follow his journey at Theshirt.no

If you need help in contacting him, contact me. Or just spread the word.

Update 26th July: At the moment he is in Hamburg!

Thank You all!

KuPS - IFK Mariehamn

KuPS – MIFK

KuPS: 0-0-0-3-0-1
MIFK:1-3-1-1-1-1

H2H: 4-2-3

29.04.2009 MIFK – KuPS 3-0

KuPS, who find themselves at the relegation zone at the moment face probably the most difficult club possible, when IFK Mariehamn travel to Kuopio in effort to strech their run of play without losing to 12. However out of the 8 away games MIFK have drawn amazing 6 times, and lost and won once. The only loss of the season so far was in early May against HJK.

Check out what Nordic Football News have to say!

KuPS have improved a lot lately and goal-keeper Ville Iiskola is confident before the game,” IFK is a very physical and strong team, but in this form we are now we are ready to challenge any team in the League. What happened in Mariehamn is just the past, now is now.”

IFK Mariehamn coach Steve Ward agrees, ” I am sure it will as tough at Kuopio just like it was against Honka and Inter. We have also played well lately, but we should get rid of the draws and get some away wins if we want to seriously fight of the top spots.

The game will be played on artificial pitch at Magnum Arena, but IFK defender Patrik Rikama is not worried,” we have practiced the whole week on artificial pitch at Mariehamn ahead of this game, and I think it will be to our advantage in the end because we are the better team to control the ball.”

KuPS have no new injury worries, the only absentee for IFK Mariehamn is striker Sasha Anttilainen 7/1.

KuPS: 1 Ville Iiskola 13/0 – 8 Tero Taipale 15/0 – 9 Balazs Balogh 11/1- 3 Janne Reinikainen 14/0 - 4 Patrik Turunen 11/0 – 15 Ollo 11/0 – 11 Pele Koljonen 12/2 – 10 Ilja Venäläinen 13/3 - 13 Betim Aliju 9/0 - 27 Segun Ikudehinbu 3/0 - 7 Miikka Turunen 13/2

Bench: 17 Jussi Kolari 0/0, 23 Jussi-Pekka Savolainen 12/0, 20 Miikka Ilo 14/0, 12 Joonas Pöntinen (gk) 2/0, 24 Atte Hoivala 5/0, 6 Tuomas Kuparinen 11/0, 22 Jyrki Juvonen 1/0

Out: 5 Jani Hartikainen 10/0 for the rest of the season, 20, 21 Jesse Miettinen 0/0, 26 Dickson Nwakaeme 1/1, 2 Joni Nissinen 1/0

Coach: Esa Pekonen


MIFK : 29 Gustav Långbacka 15/0 - 24 Mate Dujilo 11/1- 6 Marcus Olofsson 14/1 – 22 Alexandros Pappas 14/0 – 23 Paulus Arajuuri 13/1 – 8 Kenneth Gustavsson 13/0 - 9 Ante Simunac 13/2 – 10 Tamás Gruborovics 15/5 – 11 Mika Niskala 15/1 –14 Arsim Gashi 14/1 - 26 Wilhelm Ingves 13/2

Bench: 15 Amos Ekhalie 7/0, 4 Johan Carlsson 12/0, 1 Willis Ochieng (gk) 1/0, 2 Dmytro Voloshyn 7/0, 18 Dmytro Pronevych 2/0

Unavailable: 30 Sasha Anttilainen 7/1

Coach : Pekka Lyyski

Prediction: There is no question which team is the better one, and the IFK defence is very solid. The lack of wins still is a bit unconvincing factor, and it is down to the lack of proper strikers and the current odds for away win are not to my liking. One of these IFK will also lose a game, they deserved to do that against Honka, maybe they will lose at Kuopio undeservedly? This needs more studuying and changes in odds.

Edit: No value with current odds of +0.5 @ 1.77 or -0.5 @ 2.17. I skip this one unless odds change unexpectedly.

FF Jaro - Inter Turku

Jaro:3-1-1-0-0-1 Inter: 0-3-0-1-1-0

H2H: 4-7-7. 29.04.2009 Inter - Jaro 1-0

The season is hardly over half-way line, but the reigning champions Inter Turku are almost burying their hopes of domestic and international success. In the Champions League they lost twice (0-1, 1-0) to a Moldovan club Sheriff Tiraspol by a penalty goal in each game, and in the Veikkausliiga they are only on 7th place already 10 points behind leaders HJK.

And they do have some worries to add up to the misery. Important midfielder Alberto Ramirez 14/1 is suspended. Captain df Henri Lehtonen 15/0 is suspended. The best goal-scorer Timo Furuholm have pain in his knees. The key player planned for this season, argentinian Claudio Verino 13/1 has not only been a disappointment in the defense, but also seems to have lost all his confidence and stamina and is not working well together with the team. He might take a role in the attack in this game because of the lack of trust in his defensive ability and the general lack of decent strikers in the team over all. Inter have scored 15 times in their 15 games played in this season´s Veikkausliiga, which is not enough specially considering that the defense is not in top form either.

This game is the decisive game for the rest of the season. International success was just a dream, but a win here might just give a chance to at least fight for the top positions. The performances have been good, if we forget the fact they are not scoring and winning games.

Jaro on the other hand is far more happy with their season so far. They are one point behind Inter at 8th place, but nothing more was expected of them before the season. The coach Mika Laurikainen announced a couple of weeks of that he is not going to continue his career at Jaro after this season, and for some time the results and performances weakened but now the things are settling down in this small coastal town of Pietarsaari, and Jaro is likely to go on with their good season.

Vitali Teles will continue between the posts as Markus Koljander 13/0 is serving the second game of his two-game ban, but otherwise the injury situation of Jaro is improving again and they can field almost best possible starting eleven. Even Teles who was doomed as a risk and a questionmark filled his role fully against Tampere United (0-0) last monday, and kept his net intact.

Jaro: 12 Vitali Teles 2/0 – 6 Janne Vellamo 14/0 - 5 Kristian Kojola 15/2 – 2 Jani Tanska 15/1 - 10 Jonas Emet 15/3 – 16 Papa Niang 14/2 – 17 Petter Meyer 14/1 - 18 Mikko Hyyrynen 13/3 – 19 Sebastian Mannström 15/4 - 22 Jens Portin 15/0 – 23 Joonas Laurikainen 15/3

Bench: 9 Björn-Erik Sundqvist 3/0, 30 Jesse Öst 0/0, 11 Jani Koivisto 6/1, 13 Jani Sarajärvi 2/0, , 26 Tommi Haanpää 0/0

Unavailable: 8 Jari Sara 0/0, 21 Daniel Fellman 8/0, 1 Markus Koljander 13/0, 7 Marco Matrone 14/1, 3 Heikki Aho 8/0,

Coach: Mika Laurikainen



Inter Turku: 1 Patrick Bantamoi (gk)13/0 – 3 Claudio Verino 13/1 – 22 Sami Sanevuori 9/0 – 7 Ari Nyman 15/0 – 9 Guillano Grot 11/3 – 11 Timo Furuholm 13/5 – 14 Joni Aho 12/0 – 18 Ats Purje 11/1 – 24 Joni Kauko 11/1 – 23 Ville Nikkari 8/0- 17 Mika Ojala 13/2

Bench: 8 Touko Tumanto 7/0, 20 Arttu Seppälä 1/0, 21 Pablo Gomez-Marttila 0/0, 27 Kennedy 13/1, 25 Ville Mäkilä 0/0, 26 Felix Åkerlund 0/0, 6 Jermu Gustafsson 1/0, 13 Eemeli Reponen (gk) 2/0 , 15 Severi Paajanen 15/0, 12 David Monsalve (gk) 1/0

Unavailable: 19 Aristides Pertot 8/0, 5 Alberto Ramirez 14/1, 29 Henri Lehtonen 15/0

Coach: Job Dragtsma

Prediction: Jaro was a value bet for the early birds and the price of Jaro has dropped steadily after the odds had been published, and I am not that sure there is value anymore. The mental state of Inter is the decisive factor here and I need to do some more sniffing before deciding to Jaro, preferrably at 0, or not. At these odds Inter is not advisable but things might change.

On a match day the odds are dropping on Inter, and I have updated two more absentees for Jaro (Matrone and Aho), both weakening their defense. Explains the drop, still I am not that interested. No bet.

My beautiful friend Bjorn from Norway is cycling to South Africa

Bjørn Heidenstrøm. Yes. A crazy man, a "mental patient". Or is he really?

One of the least known Norwegian football professionals. From Oslo to Cape Town by bike in 10 months time. At the moment he is in St. Petersburg, Russia with Zenit to get some shirts for his collection, in order to build world´s biggest football symbol. More about it on his blog in norwegian. Or the vision in english.

It is all about unity, togetherness, friendship, football family. And help.

For him on his long journey.

For Africa.

For refugees.

If you see this man on his bike, stop him.

A short video at the end of Russian Channel-5 sports news here.

Another greeting from Estonian TV.
Buy him a cold beer. You will get a plenty in return. Stories. A smile. Maybe he can play football with you or with your kids.

Offer him a place on the sofa to sleep for the night. I can guarantee, he sleeps like a baby.

Give him publicity, media coverage. Invite him to TV. Listen to his stories and write about him.

His super flexible route map below. Copied from Swedish newspaper Ekspressen.


Looking at picture again, I have to admit that his beauty comes from the inside. From the warmth of his heart.


The timetable?

God only knows as there is a plenty of time. Today 6th July he is St. Petersburg Russia. Tomorrow he is heading to Tallinn, Estonia. I keep you posted, or simply follow his journey at Theshirt.no

If you need help in contacting him, contact me. Or just spread the word.

Thank You all!