Finnish Football | Veikkausliiga | 16.06.17 - 18.06.17
The weather was warm (unlike now) and the whole weekend was filled with Veikkausliiga football. In fact, it was a very interesting round as the rest of the teams also returned from their deserved break.
For a guy from the north, the results were pleasing, but more about those later.
The only game on the 16th was FC Lahti - Ilves and it belonged to the round 12. The rest of the games were already round 13. The system can be funny sometimes, and this not even a bad occasion in Finnish football :)
16.06.2017 (UTC +3)
One match played like said. Let's look at it closer:
FC Lahti - Ilves | 18.30 | 0-0
A very boring game that ended 0-0. A fun fact that will not perhaps please the FC Lahti fans is that the team has played four 0-0 ties in a row. The bad form continued for both of the teams and neither will be happy.
For FC Lahti this is the first season without their legendary striker Rafael, who was not renewed his contract as he might be retiring soon and was seen too old. Maybe losing him is the problem :) He is still playing in the lower division team Mikkelin Pallokissat and scoring goals. FC Lahti did sign a few strikers during the pre-season, but so far they only seem to be able to score penalties.
17.06.2017 (UTC +3)
Another day, another... whatever... It was a good day!
SJK - VPS | 15.00 | 0-1
Not looking good for SJK. They lost again at home, and the new coach does not seem to settle in, at least not yet. The owner of the club Raimo Sarasjärvi is messing too much with the team and sometimes overstepping the manager totally in a very harsh way. This can result to complications once again.
This was a derby match but it felt nothing like it. Too bad. On the other hand, the good form of VPS continues as they prepare for the Euro-game qualifications. A positive sign for them. The only goalscorer of the match was Jesper Engström (0-1, '73).
RoPS - FC Inter | 15.00 | 2-0
RoPS was willing to bounce back from their bad form before the break. The troubles were mainly due the numerous injuries that were hitting hard the already small squad of youngsters.
FC Inter had been doing good but the fact is there is a spell on their manager Shefki Kuqi; he has not yet won two games in a row in Veikkausliiga so far.
The spell was not broken and RoPS won 2-0 with magnificent performance. I was very happy to see that. The goalscorers were Eze (1-0, 61') and Simo "Super-Simo" Roiha (2-0, 89').
HIFK - PS Kemi | 15.00 | 0-2
A beautiful game again from PS Kemi against the suffering HIFK. Valenčič performed admirably and scored twice (0-1, 20', 0-2, 57') to nail the game.
HIFK has to think twice if they want to continue under the rule of their manager Antti Muurinen. Some changes are needed but it might already be too late. They HIFK officials has said that the position of Muurinen is secure and they are preparing to get some players in during the next transfer window. The only problem is that HIFK does not have any money and if they do a lot of debt and get relegated it could be the end of the team as we know it. Sad times for them.
PS Kemi in other hand is surprising all at this point. If they do not lose Valencic or have bad injuries, they might be able to keep up the good form and are capable of anything.
18.06.2017 (UTC +3)
And finally two games were played on Sunday:
KuPS - HJK | 18.30 | 0-2
Both teams were missing a lots of players. For KuPS it was the still suspended Duah + Salami and injured youngster Urho Nissilä. HJK just lost their star striker Alferdo Morelos to Glasgow Rangers and their main goalkeeper Thomas Dähne was nowhere the to be seen with skilled midfielder Moustagh Yaghoubi. Finnish national team player Juha Pirinen (former RoPS) was suspended.
HJK was a better side and managed to get a comfortable away win and three points to take home. They will be very happy. KuPS still played very good, but this time it was not enough. The goalscorers were Pelvas (0-1, 20') and Patronen (0-2, 87').
IFK M - JJK | 18.30 | 2-1
The sole bottom of the team JJK traveled to the Åland islands. IFK M has not been doing as expected and this was their change to get back on the track. The same can be said about JJK. The team needs to win desperately and as they are trying their best, it is never enough. Must be frustrating.
The home side managed to beat their opponent adding to the misery of JJK. This will keep the hopes up at the IFK M camp as the Euro-qualifications are closing in. They still have to do much better than in this match.
JJK played as usual and kept fighting. The numerous errors still resulted to conceding two goals and the game ended 2-1. The goalscorers were Sellin (1-0, 7') and Kangaskolkka (2-0, 20') for the home team and Suoraniemi (2-1, 30') for the away team.
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