IT’S been one incredible season for Rangers Football Club, and no less than FIVE champions have the opportunity to extend their personally wonderful campaigns with their national teams at this summer’s UEFA Euro 2020 tournament.
With the competition having been delayed for a year, anticipation for the big kick-off on Friday is high, not least given it will be the first time many of the players will have played in front of a significant crowd for the first time in 15 months.
The unique, pan-European nature of this tournament means there are wonderful opportunities to play at some of the continent’s most iconic stadia over the next month, and with four games being played here in Glasgow, it is especially fantastic to have Scotland at their first major tournament in 23 years, with Rangers players as part of their pool too.
This week, as we build up to the big kick-off on Friday, we’ll preview each of the five Light Blues players who will be in action. Today, we’ll take a look at Glen Kamara and Finland…
NEVER before have Finland reached a major tournament, which, given some of the household names who have come from the northern European nation, is something of a surprise.
It is therefore an incredible achievement by the current crop of Finnish internationals to have not only reached Euro 2020, but to have done so through a tough Group J which also included Italy, Greece, Bosnia and Armenia.
Even as close as their qualifying section for Euro 2016, the Finns failed to win a single match, but the phenomenal ‘club mentality’ fostered by coach Markku Kanerva has created a group of players which are probably as tight as any going into the tournament.
The detail Kanerva goes into in his preparations is renowned in Finland, and while their strengths will lie in a defensive, counter-attack style for the competition, they have three standout players in key positions.
In goal, Lukas Hradecky will be a familiar name to Rangers supporters having faced the Light Blues in the two Europa League meetings with Bayer Leverkusen last season, and his solidity between the sticks really does breathe confidence through the rest of what has been both a back five and a back four depending on the opposition.
Up front, Teemu Pukki is another name who perhaps registers, given the time he spent at the other half of the Old Firm. Now at Premier League-bound Norwich City, he is very much the talisman for the Finns, and with an incredible 10 goals in qualifying (behind Harry Kane with 12 and Cristiano Ronaldo with 11), he could be the one to fire his nation to further glory.
And then, we go into midfield for the third of those aforementioned players – Rangers’ own Glen Kamara.
Kamara is coming off a sensational individual season in the middle of the park for the Light Blues, where his consistency levels have been outstanding, and he has been a particular standout in European competition.
He truly is the lynchpin of the Finland team, and if he performs to the level he is capable of and has been performing both for club and country, he could well be the difference between qualification from the group stage and an early departure back to Glasgow.
Finland are based in St Petersburg for the tournament, with two of their matches taking place in the city, while the other, taking place a short hop away at the other side of the Baltic Sea in Copenhagen.
Like Borna Barisic’s Croatia, they are in the rather unusual situation of playing two ‘host’ nations in their group. They kick-off away to Denmark on Saturday evening at 5pm, with that being at the Parken Stadium in the Danish capital.
15,900 will be in attendance (45% of the stadium’s usual capacity) against a side who are tournament regulars, and feature well-known faces like Christian Eriksen, Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Kasper Schmeichel.
From there, it’s back to Western Russia, and matchday two against the Russians on June 16. 30,500 (50%) of the regular stadium capacity will be in attendance, and on paper, this perhaps represents the best opportunity to secure the three points for the Finns which could be enough to qualify.
Russia haven’t made it out of the group stages at a Euros since 2008, when they reached the semi-final. Famously, however, at their own World Cup three years ago, they punched well above their weight, only being denied at the quarter-final stage by Croatia on penalties. Just four of their squad play their football outside of Russia, but with a home crowd behind them, the pressure will very much be on them for this match.
The group stage for Finland then rounds off in St Petersburg with their toughest test of all on Monday, June 21 at 8pm against the number one-ranked team on the planet, Belgium.
Their entire team is brimming with star-quality, and it would be no surprise to see both the golden boot winner and the ‘Player of the Tournament’ emerge from their ranks.
As mentioned, however, just three points and minimal damage to the goal difference could be enough for Finland given four of the six ‘best’ third-place teams will progress to the Last 16.
If they make it through, Glasgow is a possible destination for Glen and his teammates for that tie, although the convoluted fixtures system means they could also be headed for Seville, Amsterdam or Bucharest.
FINLAND FIXTURES (timings BST)
Saturday 12 June - Denmark v Finland - 5pm (live on BBC) - Copenhagen
Wednesday 16 June - Finland v Russia - 2pm (live on BBC) - St Petersburg
Monday 21 June - Finland v Belgium - 8pm (live on STV) - St Petersburg
FINLAND SQUAD
Goalkeepers: Lukas Hradecky (Leverkusen), Anssi Jaakkola (Bristol Rovers), Jesse Joronen (Brescia)
Defenders: Paulus Arajuuri (Pafos), Robert Ivanov (Warta Poznań), Thomas Lam (Zwolle), Daniel O'Shaughnessy (HJK Helsinki), Jukka Raitala (Minnesota United), Joona Toivio (Häcken), Jere Uronen (Genk), Leo Väisänen (Elfsborg), Sauli Väisänen (Chievo)
Midfielders: Nikolai Alho (MTK Budapest), Fredrik Jensen (Augsburg), Glen Kamara (Rangers), Joni Kauko (Esbjerg), Robin Lod (Minnesota United), Rasmus Schüller (Djurgården), Pyry Soiri (Esbjerg), Tim Sparv (Larissa), Robert Taylor (Brann), Onni Valakari (Pafos)
Forwards: Marcus Forss (Brentford), Lassi Lappalainen (Montréal), Joel Pohjanpalo (Union Berlin), Teemu Pukki (Norwich).
Coach: Markku Kanerva
PREVIOUS FIVE TOURNAMENT PERFORMANCES
World Cup 2018: DNQ
Euro 2016: DNQ
World Cup 2014: DNQ
Euro 2012: DNQ
World Cup 2010: DNQ