Euro 2024 qualifying group H: Northern Ireland 0-1 Finland
THE previous time Northern Ireland met the Finns it was an ongoing party for the visitors to Helsinki as they continued their celebrations, having qualified for Euro 2016.
On this occasion Finland came to Belfast and spoiled the party for Michael O'Neill on his return match to Windsor Park as manager, thanks to a well-taken 28th minute goal by Benjamin Kallman.
Dion Charles, who had netted twice in San Marino on Thursday night, had an apparent 'goal' ruled out for hitting his arm before he finished in the 62nd minute and, despite all their efforts, the men in green could not conjure up an equaliser.
There was no shortage of endeavour, but a lack of creativity meant few clear-cut chances, and the Finns saw out seven minutes of added time fairly comfortably, to bounce back from their opening 3-1 defeat in Denmark.
O'Neill made just one personnel change from the side that started with a 2-0 win in San Marino, Jordan Thompson in for George Saville, having replaced him in Serravalle.
Finland boss Markku Kanerva left out Oliver Antman, despite his goal against Denmark in that loss in Copenhagen, with Rasmus Schuller starting in midfield instead. He also brought in Anssi Suhonen and Kallman for Kaan Kairinen and Joel Pohjanpalo.
Both sides seemed unsettled early on, with scrappy passing and possession being given away by the hosts especially.
Yet the men in green might have gone ahead as soon as the seventh minute, when the confident Dion Charles won the ball near the right byline and fed the advanced Thompson, but his effort from a tight angle was booted clear from near the goal-line by right-back Nikolai Alho.
The 16th minute brought sustained applause in memory of 16-year-old Bailie Hardy, who passed away from cancer on Tuesday.
The crowd then began singing the Steven Davis song, which was hardly conducive to lifting the confidence of the actual home midfield, who were finding it hard going against the impressive Glen Kamara of Rangers in particular.
Still, the hosts created another good chance, coming from a counter-attack commenced by captain Craig Cathcart's sliding tackle on Teemu Pukki. Daniel Ballard played a good pass up the right, Paddy McNair shifted the ball on to Conor Bradley, and the youngster cut it back to Dion Charles – but his right-foot swing sent the shot well over.
Northern Ireland seemed on top, with Bradley a rampaging raider on the right, but were knocked back by the concession of a soft opener, coming from the opposite flank.
Robin Lod somehow wriggled free from several opponents and slid a low ball across which Pukki guided on. Kallman, whose father is apparently considered the greatest Finnish handball player ever, showed great feet to control the ball and direct his shot in off Bailey Peacock-Farrell to the net.
Apart from the joyous Finns in the far corner, it was as if the volume had been turned off in the stadium.
Desultory attempts were made to re-ignite the atmosphere, but there was more moaning than cheering from the Green and White Army for quite a while.
Yet another dangerous Finnish attack on the right opened up an opportunity for Pukki, but Ballard made a great sliding block, and Peacock-Farrell saved the number 10's follow-up effort.
There were calls for penalties, when Thompson went down and then for a handball, but they were made more in hope than expectation.
A leveller might have come a minute before the break, when the two teenagers in the team, Shea Charles and Bradley, combined for the latter to slip a pass to Dion Charles, but Finland keeper Lukas Hradecky was out smartly to block the shot away for a corner.
The home side was much better in the second half, perhaps helped by an enforced change. Ballard limped off, to be replaced by Josh Magennis, who went into a three-pronged attack, while McNair slotted back on the right of the back three.
Magennis immediately added some much-needed physicality up front, winning the ball and releasing Lewis. His cross was headed back down and across by Bradley – and Magennis had raced in to meet the dropping ball, but could only lift his shot over the bar.
A dangerous McNair delivery was deflected over his own bar by Robert Ivanov with Magennis lurking, and NI had the ball in the net from the subsequent corner, but it was immediately disallowed for handball against the 'scorer' Dion Charles.
With the men in green continued to push forward with increasing desperation, gaps began to open up in their defence,
Pukki's replacement Marcus Forss forced a save from Peacock-Farrell, who did even better to deny Ivanov, who blasted the loose ball high towards the net.
O'Neill had introduced Gavin Whyte for Washington and he soon sped clear, surprisingly with no offside flag appearing, and his shot to the near post was clumsily fumbled for a corner by Hradecky.
The home players kept going, kept probing, but could not find a way through. The only consolation is that Denmark lost to Kazakhstan, so the group remains open, but at the very least this was one point dropped, which may prove costly in the attempt to reach Euro 2024 in Germany.
Northern Ireland (3-5-2): Peacock-Farrell; Ballard (Magennis, 50, inj.), Cathcart (capt.), Brown; Bradley, S Charles (Price, 78), Thompson (Saville, 78), McNair, Lewis; D Charles, Washington (Whyte, 69).
Finland (4-3-3): Hradecky (capt.); Alho (Taylor, 86), Vaisanen, Ivanov, Jensen (Peltola, 52); Lod, Kamara, Schuller; Kallman (Pohjanpalo, 86), Pukki (Forss, 70), Suhonen (Soiri, 70).
Referee: Ivan Kruziliak (Slovakia).
Attendance: 17,913.
