The Finnish men's football team won a make-or-break match against Azerbaijan in icy conditions in Helsinki on Saturday, 2-1. A crowd of about 10,000 was on hand at the Olympic Stadium as the Finnish Lions entertained Azerbaijan, both teams battling for a Group A berth in the UEFA European Championships 2008. Finland have never qualified for a major tournament. Officials declared the pitch fit for play on Saturday after a subzero night. The temperature remained below freezing as the match began around 4 pm, likely giving an advantage to the Finns. Finland's head coach, English veteran Roy Hodgson, named a team led by Mikael Forssell and Jonatan Johansson. Ageing star Jari Litmanen was on the bench, but joined the action early in the second half to hearty cheers from the crowd. It was his first appearance with the national team in more than six months. Finland dominated play, but the game remained scoreless early in the second half. Then Azerbaijan's Mahmud Gurbanov scored the first goal of the match, but Finland's Mikael Forssell evened it out, with Shefki Kuqi kicking in the winning goal five minutes from time. Group A is the most open in the Euro 2008 qualification round, with Poland, Portugal, Serbia and Finland all having home games against the four strugglers in the section on Saturday. Going into the match, Finland was tied with Serbia for third place in the group, with Azerbaijan at the bottom of the table. Poland and Portugal lead the group. Last week Finland beat Armenia, 1-0. Fate Unclear till Saturday?
Finland's fate may not be resolved until next Saturday, Nov. 24. Then Serbia and Kazakhstan play a match postponed from a week earlier because of snow. In any case the picture will become clearer on Wednesday when Finland plays Portugal and Serbia meets Group A leader Poland.
Poland have already qualified with 27 points after their 2-0 home win over Belgium on Saturday. Portugal have 26 points, Finland are on 23 with Serbia on 20.
