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A quick look at Finland’s traveling side for their UEFA Nations League match against Ireland at Aviva Stadium on Sunday and it’s hard to miss one Daniel O’Shaughnessy.
Born and raised in Finland; The 25-year-old defender has played for Finland at all levels before making his debut for the senior squad that qualified for Euro 2020 last year.
Contacted in 2012 to see if he had any interest in playing for the country where his father was born, the 6-foot-3 defender decided to stay with the team he currently represents and is now part of the Finland squad to play in Dublin.
Finland, like Wales, are two teams from the Irish Nations League group that have already qualified for next summer’s rescheduled Euro 2020 tournament, having finished runners-up for Italy in Group J ahead of Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia and Liechtenstein.
Markku Kanerva’s team entered the Euro 2020 tournament thanks to two things, their home form, mainly at Tampere Stadium, and their surprising sensation Teemu Pukki, who played for Norwich in the first half of the 2019-20 Premier season. League.
Finland won four of their five home games in the group and were beaten by a narrow 2-1 margin to Italy, while Pukki scored ten of their 16 goals on the campaign.
His 10-goal loot was by far the best of the group, six ahead of Italy’s top scorer, Andrea Belotti.
Surprisingly though, Finland lost four matches and still qualified as they were beaten twice by Italy and out in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece. The only points they got away from home were away victories in Armenia and Liechtenstein.
By contrast, Ireland only lost one game in their qualifying campaign, outside of Switzerland, but their third place finish meant they missed an automatic qualifying spot.
While Ireland played away in Bulgaria on Thursday night, Finland hosted Wales in the other Group 4 match of League B.
And the Scandinavian side began their campaign with a defeat, as one goal made the difference for Wales.
Kieffer Moore scored the only goal of the match in Helsinki, although you can imagine that this Nations League campaign is just a distraction for this Finnish team looking to next summer on their Euro debut.
Neither team actually covered themselves with glory in their first campaign game and Finland will surely be looking for a better performance in Dublin.
While a well-organized unit, Finland struggled to create chances throughout the game and defender Leo Väisänen had to do his best in goal as he hit the wood early in the second half.
As mentioned, all eyes will be on Pukki for this match and his talisman will be looking to get back on the roster after being blank against Ryan Giggs’ side.
Captain Tim Sparv is their main man in midfield, while Glen Kamara is another of their best-known midfielders, as he works in the Scottish top flight at Rangers.
The visitors will most likely line up in a 4-4-2 formation with Esberg’s Joni Kauko, who plays in the Danish league, and Finnish KuPS’s Ilmari Niskanen making up the midfield quartet.
Veteran goalkeeper Lukáš Hrádecký, who plays for Bayer Leverkusen, is a reliable man between the posts and should start in Dublin, with Elfsborg center midfielder Leo Väisänen and Danish side Vejle’s Juhani Ojala sitting up front.
Genk’s full-back Jere Uronen is another seasoned international and should start as a right-back, while our man in Finland, O’Shaughnessy, will get a taste of what his home stadium could have been, playing on the left side of defense.
And while Pukki is the man to watch from the start, the Irish defense will need to pay attention to another of their Bundesliga players, Joel Pohjanpalo, who is currently on loan from Bayer Leverkusen in Hamburg.
The center forward is over six feet tall and will prove a handful, while offering a threat in the final third, especially if Ireland allows as much space behind defense as they did Thursday in Bulgaria.
Coach Kanerva has already achieved national treasure status at home after guiding his team to their first major championships and will not be judged this Nations League campaign.
As a result, Finland will arrive with confidence and with the knowledge that little is expected of them, and that could allow the coach to experiment with players and styles, which could be an interesting night, albeit with no one there to look at.
Follow Republic of Ireland v Finland (KO 5pm) via our live blog on RTÉ.ie / sport and the RTÉ News app, or listen to the commentary on RTÉ Radio 1’s Sunday Sport.
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