Jar Jar Haka And The Phantom Menace – NFN’s Veikkausliiga Preview Part III – The Relegation Candidates
And so we move to the not-so-business end of the table, the rear. It promises to be quite a battle, since so many clubs have been forced to cut costs amid financial turmoil. You can find the rest of NFN’s Veikkausliiga preview here, just click on the links. Part I – Part II –...
Who Gets Gunned Down By The Financial Death Star – NFN’s Veikkausliiga Preview, Part II – The Mid-Table
The mid-table more than any other part of the league is defined by the financial nuclear winter and different ways to approach it. Let the carnage ensue! You can find the rest of NFN’s Veikkausliiga preview here, just click on the links. Part I – Part III – Part IV. Struggling beneath the far reaches...
There Will Be No Return Of The Jedi In This Universe – NFN’s Veikkausliiga Preview 2011
It’s time for the annual NFN Veikkausliiga preview. As with last year, a three part preview, starting with the title contenders. Want to guess who we think will win? You can find the rest of NFN’s Veikkausliiga preview here, just click on the links. Part II – Part III – Part IV. On with...
Will Finland Fall Victim To Mixu Paatelainen’s Stand Up Comedy Routine?
So far in his managerial career, Mixu Paatelainen has employed a tested and true stage performers mentality: always leave on a high note. How will that affect his tenure with Finland? Let’s get one thing out of the way. Hiring Mixu Paatelainen was the only thing Palloliitto could do. He’s Finnish, relatively successful and Petri...
White Girls Can’t Dance
Let’s not get carried away by the shock of the match-fixing scandal. A cap on foreign players in Veikkausliiga isn’t the answer. When Timo Soini coined his ever more popular catch phrase ”Missä EU, siellä ongelma” (Where there is the EU, there are problems), he created a brilliant out on any tough question regarding his...
A Fitting End for The Silver Generation
If there was one road to redemption for the Jari Litmanen/Sami Hyypiä generation, it was avenging the bitter loss of 11.10.1997, but it wasn’t to be. I guess it couldn’t have ended any other way. What started exactly 13 years ago ended in identical fashion. Finland had their throats slit by the Hungarians yet again....
Time to Exorcise Some Demons
The day is finally here. The Huns of Budapest finally return to the scene of their most heinous crime. For Finland, it’s time to stand tall and bury their most horrifying memory. As the big game has drawn closer, more and more media outlets have relived the horror of October 11th 1997. As Finland fumbled...
Don’t Fear The Football Taliban
Every spare moment I’ve had in between work I’ve been thinking about the Finnish Cup final. Not the game itself, but the event. I kept running into the same problem. Yes, it has history and tradition. And yes, football is football and that should suffice. But every time I thought of these things I felt...
Who Shall Get the Last Laugh? A Look At Some Predictions
Do you like self-congradulatory columns with a hint of smugness? In that case, you’re in luck! In a tradition stretching back to never before, let’s take a look at the predictions made in our Veikkausliiga preview package in April and see where we are. How has the season unfolded? Who gets the last laugh? One...
Armageddon is Coming – Finally!
Are you ready? The teams that shall stay in the smoldering remains of Ykkönen are bracing for nuclear winter, Palloliitto style. No division will be hit harder in the much-debated league revamp announced by the FFA last spring. I don’t know who’d want to play there next year. You know how every time a natural...
The R Word
Finnish is a great language for cursing. My favourite curse word in Finnish football is actually Norwegian. I don’t know who the poor soul was who was first to utter the words, but the phrase “We will be Finland’s Rosenborg” has to be equated to the rudest possible insult imaginable. You know how TV shows...
Dead In The Water
Cooked. Done. Toast. What does it feel like to lose two years of your life in advance? Now we know. I’ve been sitting catatonic on my couch for just about 24 hours now, save for the few I could sleep. Every time I try to cheer myself up, one of my few remaining friends calls...
