When your country has never qualified for a World Cup or European Championship finals tournament in history, it’s a big deal if you start a qualifying series with three wins from four matches played. Even more so when expectancy, or hope, has been fuelled by the national team recently topping it’s European Nations League C group above the likes of Greece and Hungary, and earning promotion to League B.
These are good times for the Finnish national team, perennial also-rans over countless European qualifying campaigns.
This week they will continue their latest bid for finals glory with two huge games, both at home, in Tampere against Greece (5 Sep) and Italy (8 Sep).