Kakkonen on Friday night

The seasons are about to end soon which means there a lot of matches available with a lot at stake.

Åbo IFK meet SalPa, the hosts need a few points,

Ilves host FC Espoo who are 4 points ahead of the second best in the group with 2 matches remaining and only the winner getting promoted, and

Pallo-Iirot host KaaPo who early on, as usual, gave up fighting for promotion as they really do not want that. The hosts would not mind getting a point here, which would also probably satisfy KaaPo.

Åbo have been in form, but the odds have dropped to an unacceptable level, Ilves might snatch a point which is no good for the picking the better team as the hc for them is -0,25, and Pallo-Iirot are safe enough to be happy with a amicable draw.

------------> KaaPo + 0,5 @ 2.20

LOHKO B

FC Espoo 24 15 7 2 38-15 52
LoPa 24 15 3 6 36-15 48
Ilves 24 13 3 8 37-27 42
KaaPo 24 10 9 5 35-25 39
Pallohonka 24 9 6 9 38-36 33
SalPa 24 10 3 11 36-35 33
FC Jazz-j 24 8 7 9 29-38 31
P-Iirot 24 8 6 10 30-30 30
EIF 24 8 6 10 38-39 30
ÅIFK 24 8 5 11 38-38 29
Sinimustat 24 6 9 9 28-33 27
PP-70 24 7 4 13 27-44 25
Närpes Kraft 24 7 3 14 25-45 24
Pirkkala JK 24 6 5 13 31-46 23

2.10. ÅIFK - SalPa klo 18.30
Ilves - FC Espoo klo 18.30
P-Iirot - KaaPo klo 18.30

Finland U17 vs Czech Republic 6. & 8.10.2009

Jesse Joronen, Fulham FC
Santeri Aaltonen, SalPa

Johannes Nordström, IFK Mariehamn
Mikko-Petteri Latosaari, FC Haka
Ville Rannikko, TPS
Patrick O’Shaughnessy, HJK
Miikka Salonen, HyPS
Jussi Perttula, MyPa
Antti Mäkijärvi, FC Honka
Kevin Mombilo, HJK
Jani Jokinen, FC Honka
Valmir Seferi, FC Honka
Joni Mäkelä, OLS
Jaakko Hietikko, FC Honka

Tim Väyrynen, FC Honka
Jusu Karvonen, Ilves
Aleksi Paananen, KuPS
Thomas Lam, AZ Alkmaar

Finland U19 in the European QL

Vs England, Slovakia and Slovenia in Slovenia 9.-14.10.2009 Biggest talents bolded.

Saku-Pekka Sahlgren, Reima
Pentti Pussinen, PP-70

Valtteri Moren, HJK
Henri Toivomäki, FC Lahti
Atte Hoivala, KuPS
Kalle Sotka, HJK
Juho Lähde, TPS
Kim Alonen, TPS

Tuomas Rannankari, FC Twente
Alexander Ring, HJK
Johannes Westö, HJK
Juuso Simpanen, FC Honka
Roope Riski, TPS
Patrick Poutiainen, JJK
Rasmus Schüller, FC Honka

Tuomas Tyystälä, PS Kemi
Juho Lehtonen, PoPa
Joni Nissinen, KuPS

Finland U21 vs Holland 9.10.2009

And also against Liechtenstein the following week.

Jukka Lehtovaara, TPS – 6 / 0
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

Finland against Wales & Germany 10. & 14.10.2009

For the meaningless international matches Mr. Stuart Baxter has chosen the following
players to be laughed at;


Jussi Jääskeläinen, Bolton Wanderers – 53 / 0
Otto Fredrikson, Lilleström SK – 3 / 0

Veli Lampi, FC Zürich – 15 / 0
Hannu Tihinen, FC Zürich – 75 / 5
Sami Hyypiä, Bayer 04 Leverkusen – 101 / 5
Petri Pasanen, Werder Bremen – 56 / 1
Niklas Moisander, AZ Alkmaar – 6 / 0
Ari Nyman, FC Inter – 19 / 0

Markus Heikkinen, SK Rapid Wien – 49 / 0
Teemu Tainio, Birmingham City FC – 50 / 6
Roman Eremenko, FC Dynamo Kyiv – 22 / 0
Joonas Kolkka, NAC Breda – 95 / 11
Roni Porokara, Örebro SK – 7 / 1
Tim Sparv, Halmstads BK – 3 / 0
Perparim Hetemaj, FC Twente – 2 / 0

Jonatan Johansson – 98 / 21
Jari Litmanen, FC Lahti – 127 / 31
Alexei Eremenko Jr., FC Metalist Kharkiv – 42 / 13
Kasper Hämäläinen, TPS – 2 / 0
Shefki Kuqi, TuS Koblenz – 58 / 7
Berat Sadik, SV Zulte Waregem – 4 / 0
Hermanni Vuorinen, FC Honka – 0 / 0
Niklas Tarvajärvi, Karlsruher SC – 4 / 0

The latest heroics of the team were to grab an important away point from Liechtenstein of all places.

Finland Cup Quarter-finals

Eight teams left to fight for cup glory.

On Wednesday 1.10.09 third-division

City Stars meet FC Honka,

City Stars is quality-wise a second division (Kakkonen) team and will also be promoted after this season. The bad news for them is that the gap between top of Veikkausliiga and Kakkonen is huge. The only upset I can remember when a second division team won a Veikkausliiga club was last round, when Jazz won poor and injury-riddled VPS 0-2.

Espoo lost to HJK only narrowly though and Gnistan made Lahti work until extra time in some other tight Kakkonen - Liiga encounters lately, but here a surprise would be the biggest ever as Honka is in form and arguably the best team in the country right now.. Honka will rotate strongly, but it has no effect whatsoever as the bench is full of quality guys.

Prediction: 0-3,4,5, probably not worth a bet.

EDIT: FT 0-3 by the third hat-trick this week for Jami Puustinen. A good week I must say for this ex Man Utd - trainee. Honka had 9 different players from the league team line-up so the players are pretty well rested against RoPS next Sunday.



On Thursday 2.10.09

KuPs - Inter

KuPS + 0,25 @ 2.17? I might be tempted, and then again not. I will wait for live action, as KuPS are still fighting for the survival in the league and waiting for the news whether the 3 points they lost in the cabinet against RoPS are to be returned.


EDIT: KuPs rested some key players and so did also Inter in the form of Furuholm. FT: 0-2.

Haka - TamU

Two weeks ago I would had gone for TamU with maximum stakes, or at least against Haka. Then, suddenly something has happened. I still do not believe it is permanent and can not really reason it, but I am not going to lose big money third time in a row if it happens to be true that Haka is a useful team again, and TamU do have some suspended and injured players and no one on the bench. LIVE.

FT:1-3. A well-deserved away win in this cup-derby.

FC Lahti - FC Jazz

I took my time in the waiting game and the odds for Lahti - 2.25 have dropped beyond acceptable level. Lahti will win, there is no question about that, but they struggled a bit against another 2nd division team and had to play extra time. I want to see who they are fielding, but Lahti -2.25 @ 1.81 is not acceptable, and I am not prepared to take Jazz either. I wait for live action here too.

EDIT: FT 4-0. Comfortable, could had been also a bit more narrow. It shows the difference of the quality quite well.

IFK Mariehamn - FF Jaro

IFK Mariehamn (4.) – Jaro (10.)

MIFK:3-3-1-0-3-0
Jaro:0-0-1-3-3-0


H2H:8-9-2
Last game in Veikkausliiga: 24.6.09 Jaro – IFK Mariehamn 0-0

The surprise result of the week was created at Haka when they demolished IFK Mariehamn by 5-1. Jaro took also part in a goal-scoring competition and lost 3-5 at home against Honka. ”We defended in an awful way and being soon two goals down was too much,” wonders IFK midfielder Tamas Gruborovics, ” It was very confusing, everything was as normal before the game and we were really focused, and then happened this, ” he continues.

IFK Mariehamn can now wave their hopes of reaching the third spot in the league goodbyes, as Honka is already 6 points up with a better goal difference when there are three matches to go. ”Fourth place would be more than most people expected and we are now fighting for that, though of course everyone is disappointed in the team right now.”, says Gruborovics.

Jaro have played well lately, and they had won JJK and TPS before meeting the in-form team Honka who won 3-5 at Jaro last Sunday. ” Jaro is a good team and they have improved a lot since Alexei Eremenko Sr started as a coach a few weeks ago, ” says IFK captain Mika Niskala. ”Anyone can lose against Honka, but only a few teams will ever score three goals in their net like Jaro did."

Jaro are tenth in the league but with a good finish they can end up a few positions higher and start happily preparing into new season, the first round match at Jaro ended goalless.

Defender Paulus Arajuuri 19/1 who will transfer to Kalmar FF after the season is suspended from the IFK Mariehamn side, gk Markus Koljander 18/0 and df Jani Tanska 20/1 are injured from FF Jaro.


MIFK : 29 Gustav Långbacka 23/0 - 24 Mate Dujilo 19/1 - 6 Marcus Olofsson 22/3 – 22 Alexandros Pappas 22/0 – 3 Patrik Rikama 20/0 – 8 Kenneth Gustavsson 20/2 - 9 Ante Simunac 19/4 – 10 Tamás Gruborovics 22/6 – 15 Amos Ekhalie 12/1 – 30 Sasha Anttilainen 12/1
Bench: 1 Willis Ochieng (gk) 1/0, 2 Dmytro Voloshyn 8/0, 18 Dmytro Pronevych 5/0, 11 Mika Niskala 21/1, 14 Arsim Gashi 19/1, 26 Wilhelm Ingves 21/3, 4 Johan Carlsson 18/1,, 21 Jimmy Sundman 1/0
Unavailable: 23 Paulus Arajuuri 19/1 suspended

Coach : Pekka Lyyski



Jaro: 12 Vitali Teles (gk) 6/0 – 6 Janne Vellamo 20/0 - 5 Kristian Kojola 32/2 – 27 Urmas Rooba 4/0 - 7 Marco Matrone 17/1 – 10 Jonas Emet 22/3 – 17 Petter Meyer 22/5 - 18 Mikko Hyyrynen 20/4 – 19 Sebastian Mannström 23/4 – 22 Jens Portin 22/0 – 23 Joonas Laurikainen 23/3

Bench: 30 Jesse Öst 0/0, 11 Jani Koivisto 13/3, 13 Jani Sarajärvi 9/0, 26 Tommi Haanpää 2/0, 9 Björn-Erik Sundqvist 10/1, 16 Papa Niang 20/3, 21 Daniel Fellman 8/0, 20 Tillman Grove 2/0

Unavailable: 8 Jari Sara 0/0, 3 Heikki Aho 8/0, 1 Markus Koljander (gk)18/0 the rest of the season, 2 Jani Tanska 20/1

Coach : Alexei Eremenko Sr

Betting: I think I give this match a miss. IFK played an awful match at Haka and the motivation for the rest of the season flew out of the window. Jaro might be a bit of value with a handicap.