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Not only is the ice marathon famous
Kuopio, located in central Finland by Lake Kalavesi, is only the ninth largest city in the country.
The area is primarily marked by the annual Finnish ice marathon, the Kuopio dance and music festivals, and the Pujo winter games.
In recent years, Kuopio has also run for the position of leader of Finnish club football.
KuPS became the champion for the first time since the 1990s, when the Veikkausliiga professional soccer league was established in Finland, but it was not by chance that it shot to the top. Last year, the “canaries”, as the team’s footballers in Finland are called because of their yellow color, won silver and last year they won bronze.
KuPS won the other five championship titles much earlier, in 1956, 1958, 1966, 1974 and 1976, and of the clubs currently playing in the strongest division, only Finnish soccer champions HJK (81) and Turku TPS ( 63) are second in terms of number of seasons there. 75).
KuPS command nuotr./KuPS
KuPS, or Kuopio ball club, Finland also holds a record: the longest series of seasons in a row in the strongest division, stretching from 1949 to 1992.
Last year, in the Finnish championship, KuPS was five points ahead of Turku Inter and six of Espoo Honka, winner of bronze.
In this year’s championship after 16 rounds, Veikkausliiga leads with HJK and KuPS with 34 points each, but Kuopio’s team still has matches in reserve.
The match between Sūduva and KuPS will be played at Savon Sanomat Areena, which was built in June 2005 and has a capacity of 5,000 people. viewers.
Photo from Wikipedia / “Savon Sanomat Arena”
Interestingly, until 2005, the team played at the track and field stadium in Väinölänniemi, which is considered one of the most beautiful sports bases in Finland due to its proximity to Lake Kalavesi.
Noise in Europe
KuPS are in the European Cup for the fourteenth time but have managed to beat at least two rivals in a single campaign, beating Llanelli of Wales and Maccabi of Netanya in the 2012-2013 season, but desperately capitulating against Bursaspor of Turkey. in the third qualifying round. – 0: 1 and 0: 6.
Norwegian Arne Erlandsen’s students did not shine in this year’s campaign either. Initially, Norwegian Molde fell 0: 5 in the Champions League team, and last week, after penalties, Slovan of Bratislava defeated 4: 3, with a tying goal only at the end of extra time (1 : one).
KuPS photo / KuPS triumphs in the penalty shootout
By the way, one of their leaders Ilmari Niskanen left the team after this match. The national midfielder had already reached an agreement with the German third division club Ingolstadt, so even before the duel with the Slovaks, it was clear that this was the last match in which he was wearing a yellow KuPS jersey.
Lithuanian three months
The name KuPS also has a Lithuanian accent. Former Lithuanian forward Deivydas Matulevičius has not played for Kuopio for a while.
One of the biggest travelers in Lithuanian football arrived in Finland in March 2018.
“I was impressed by the fact that the club is ambitious and sets the highest goals, constantly fighting for titles. I felt that the club really loved me and that was also an important reason why I chose KuPS, ”said D. Matulevičius, who was 28 at the time.
Photo by KuPS / Deivydas Matulevičius
Then the Finns announced that they had chosen a high-ranking Lithuanian from about ten candidates.
“We wanted a big and physically strong forward who could move well in the penalty area and pose a constant threat, and David was perfectly prepared for that,” argued Jani Honkavaara, the then KuPS coach.
However, the stage of the race in Finland did not happen for the Lithuanians. D. Matulevičius arrived in Kuopio after a break of several months, when he terminated the contract with Edinburgh Hibernian, and KuPS did not become the leader of the attacks.
D. Matulevičius played just six games for the Finnish national team, did not score goals and after losing the competitive fight to Rasmus Karjalainen and Petter Pennanen, he was fired from the team in June.
Representing the CSM Reșița club and without hiding ambitions to enter the Romanian Premier League with him, Alytus is a great memory of the months spent in Finland and ensures that the people of Suvalk will have to face a somewhat punctual rival on Thursday, that stands out with a clear trump card in Finland.
“The advantage of KuPS in the Finnish championship is that this team plays on synthetic ground, which is not easy for the competitors to adapt to,” said Kuopio. 15 minutes contacted D. Matulevičius.
It was the specific square that was one of the main reasons why the Lithuanian race at Kuopio was so short-lived.
“I came after a knee injury and it was very difficult to play and especially train constantly on a synthetic surface. It seems I was able to get used to it, join the team and then the knee pains came back. I decided that working in such conditions every day is pointless. I am grateful that KuPS trusted me after the injury and gave me the opportunity, but I couldn’t continue playing there, ”said the forward.
KuPS command nuotr./KuPS
Spotted opponent
On Thursday night, in front of “Sūduva”, the Finns will form a well balanced team with up to twelve legionnaires. Interestingly, in addition to players from Brazil, Portugal, Nigeria, Cameroon and Ghana, KuPS also has legionnaires from the Baltic countries: Estonian Atsas Purje and Arturas Pikkas and Latvian Igor Tarasov.
“The team has changed little during those two years. Yes, it is now run by another coach, but the team’s game continues to revolve around the safety of Petter Pennanen. He’s the captain of this team, the dispatcher who builds the most attacks. The other team leader is Ville Saxman. In general, KuPS likes fast and technical football “, 15 minutes said D. Matulevičius.
After a career in Finland, D. Matulevičius spent the season at Rapid Club in Bucharest, Romania, and in 2019, after a seven-year break, he returned to Lithuania and wore a Kauno Žalgiris jersey.
When asked to compare the capabilities of the Finnish and Lithuanian championships, D. Matulevičius turned the balance to Veikkausliiga.
“I think the Finnish league is stronger. First of all, there is much more competition, five teams have similar capacity and are fighting for European positions. If the veteran national champion HJK does not win the championship, it already says a lot. Sometimes I keep watching the championship games of this country, I can say that there are almost no games in Finland where there is a clear winner at a time, maybe only two teams are weaker this year. All the others are fighting very seriously, “said D Matulevičius.
Eriko Ovcharenko / 15min night / “Suduva”
Odds – 50/50
According to the forward, KuPS headed towards his goal with determination and confidence and after 43 years he won the title of Finnish champion, and the beginnings of the sweet fruit could already be seen a couple of years ago.
“This is a team with a long and rich history, and their ambitions have grown significantly in recent years. Even when I was playing, everyone was talking about the top three. For the past three years, KuPS has pursued these goals: to become into an award winner, winning championships, and now the team has been strengthened with several good legionnaires. The team is really well balanced, in Finland not many people expected to jump over the Bratislava ‘Slovan’ barrier, but they made it, “said resident of Alytus.
However, the champions of League A are not ruled out by a soccer player who knows both teams perfectly.
Marijampolė’s “Sūduva” was not as stable as usual this season, he was in the pit, but he still stands out with the same weapons: defense, standard situations, Semiras Kerla, who plays perfectly on the second floor. I think the Suvalk people will give the initiative to the opponents and try to fight back. Possibilities? I think it will be a match between equal competitors ”, predicted the only Lithuanian with a KuPS jersey.
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