April 15, 2023
These diaries last reviewed football in Finland at the end of 2020, with a review of the 2020 season. Inter Turku were runners-up that year, behind champions HJK Helsinki, whilst Ilves finished in 5th place.
Ilves, from the city of Tampere, had two of the most exciting forwards in the Finnish league that season. 18-year-old wonder-kid Naathan Skytta scored 7 goals in 16 games, coming off the bench in 10 of these games, and earned a transfer at the end of the season to French Second division side FC Toulouse. Unfortunately, his career hasn’t rocketed since that move, with subsequently loans to Viking Stavanger and OB Odense. Fellow striker Mauri Ala-Myllymaki was signed by Italian side Venezia, but failed to make an impression, and has returned to Ilves for this season, although wasn’t involved today due to an injury.
Ilves usually play in the 5,060 capacity Tammelon stadium but as this is undergoing rebuilding work today’s match was played at FK Haka’s ground in nearby Valkeakoski, which has an artificial surface. Ilves translates as Lynx and their home colours are yellow shirts with green shorts although their green numbers are not easy to identify !
Their average attendance last season was only 2,267, although in the last season before Covid their average was 4,450, the second best in the league behind HJK Helsinki.
Inter’s mainman in 2020 was pantomime villain striker Timo Furuholm, who grabbed 10 goals that season, in and amongst his theatrics in the penalty box. He scored 7 times in 2021 but has now retired.
In 2021, Inter finished in 4th place, one position ahead of Ilves, with striker Benjamin Kallman ( 11 caps ) scoring 14 times and is now playing for Polish side Cracovia. Last year Inter slipped to 5th, whilst Ilves performed even worse and ended in 9th place despite forward Kai Meriluto, on loan from HJK Helsinki, being on target 10 times. The match between the two sides last season ended in a 1-1 draw
Today’s match was part of the second round of matches in the 2023 season. Ilves began their season with a 1-1 draw at IFK Mariehamn whilst Inter Turku recorded an impressive 2-1 at last season’s runners-up and perennial title challengers KuPS.
The Ilves line-up today included two players from the KuPS squad that finished second in 2020, keeper Otso Virtanen and midfielder Petteri Pennanen ( 1 cap ), who has also represented sides in Poland, Indonesia and the USA. Right-back Felipe Aspergren has 1 cap and Bermudan ex-West Ham and Dover striker Djair Parfitt-Williams has 3 caps for his country. Forward Adam Larsson is Swedish, centre-back Mohammed Umar comes from Ghana, and Niger midfielder Najeeb Yakubu ( 1 cap ) is on loan from Ukranian side Vorskla Poltava.
For Inter, wing-back Rodrigo Arciero played for Banfield in his native Argentina, defender Dimitri Legbo comes from the Ivory Coast, striker Darren Smith is South African and chunky midfielder Jani Forsell has 10 caps for Finland having played in Turkey, Poland and Sweden. Timo Stavitski has played for Caen and Maastricht, and Finnish born midfielder/attacker Arlind Sejdiu has opted to play for Kosovo.
The Inter coach is former international Jarko Wiss, who played for Stockport County and Hibernians during his career, and had 5 years in charge at Ilves.
The match was live streamed on Bet365.com who made Inter 5/4 favourites, with Ilves at 15/8 and the draw at 11/5.
The weather at the 13.00 local kick-off time was sunny with the temperature around 5 degrees. Some residual snow was visible on the grass banks behind one of the goals.
The distance from Turku to Valkeakoski is around 140km and usually takes just under two hours by road. Approximately 50 Inter fans had made the journey and were housed in a corner of the ground behind one of the goals.
Like their namesakes in Milan, Inter normally play in blue and black stripes, but today were in an all-red outfit.
The first attack of the match was by Inter, as striker Smith burst pass a defender into the home area, but slightly off balance could only shoot well wide. After that Ilves had a slight edge as they probed for an opening, but failed to create any danger, and Haarela and Moussa both sent optimistic long range efforts well wide of the target.
Their good start was rewarded in the 16th minute as a seven pass move ended with Ilves taking the lead. Parfitt-Williams surged toward the edge of the Inter penalty area and passed to Haarela, who found Pennanen on the overlap in the right-hand channel. The experienced midfielder swept the ball across the face of the goal into the far corner from a tight angle, with the suspicion that the Inter keeper might have done better.
An Inter cross in the 18th minute was easily caught by Ilves keeper Virtanen, which was just about the first time he had touched the ball.
The game’s first moment of controversy occurred two minutes later when Timo Savitski’s left footed 20-yard shot crashed against the underside of the crossbar, bounced at least a foot over the line and out again for Virtanen to gather. Amazingly, no goal was awarded to Inter, and there is no VAR in Finland.
Stavitski then turned inside the home area but his left-footed shot was high and wide, then an Ilves cross was dangerously slung into the 6 yard box but two attackers were unable to get on the end of it.
Ilves had to make their first substitution in the 28th minutes, as Parfitt-Williams limped off to be replaced by Jukkola. Ilves still held the upper hand, Haarela curled a shot a couple of feet over the bar after a free-kick had been cleared to him just outside the area, followed by a wild attempt by Moussa which was closer to the corner flag than the goal.
Apart from the “ghost goal”, Inter had rarely threatened, but that changed in the 37th minute. Impressive left-back Legbo won a tackle near the half-way line and sped down the left wing, and after receiving a return pass got close to the by-line. His cross was parried by Virtanen but the ball fell kindly to Smith lurking at the back post for a simple tap in for the equaliser.
Parity didn’t last for long though. Ilves left-back Aspergen made ground and threaded an incisive pass to Pennanen but the cross was intercepted by Jarvinen. The Inter player dithered in possession and Larsson was quick to poke the ball away and then fell to the floor, and the referee awarded a penalty. It looked soft, and Inter now had two important decisions go against them, as Pennanen sent Huuhtanen the wrong the way from the spot for his second goal of the game.
The last piece of action of the half saw Inter’s Syry shoot yards over the bar after Staviski’s cross hand been headed clear.
At half-time, on the balance of play Ilves deserved to be ahead, but Inter certainly had grounds for complaint.
The second half was very different, as Inter immediately took control of the game. Forsell shot wide, then a precision pass from Stavitski gave Smith some space on the left-hand side of the home area, but Umar made a good sliding block to concede a corner. The set-piece was flicked on at the near post, but unfortunately for the visitors they had no-one anticipating a simple finish at the far post and the ball drifted away to safety.
Another Inter corner saw Virtanen punch away under pressure from under his own crossbar, and after flowing move ended by winning a corner, Forsell again shot well wide from distance. He was replaced shortly after.
Another sweeping move by the Turku side saw Stavitski’s pass from the right go behind the advancing Smith, then after a brief spell of respite for Ilves, substitute Sejdiu made a 50 yard break from his own area, fed Tamminen, who won another corner. This time Virtanen commandingly claimed.
Sejdiu was involved again in the 68th minute, skipping past Maenpaa but from a tight angle was only able to blast straight at the keeper, who make a strong block with his fists. Another wave of attacks needed good defending by the home side to deny Tamminen and Staviski, and a follow-up cross from Niska. Ilves counter-attacked but squandered a 3 on 2 opportunity.
Sejdiu made another menacing run into the Ilves area, but the danger ended as two Inter players got in each other’s way.
Inter continued to press but the substitutions appeared to have affected their rhythm. Lehtisalo shot into the side netting but play was increasingly scrappy and frantic as Inter became increasingly desperate.
On a rare incursion into the Inter area, Yakubu fell to the floor but the referee wasn’t fooled this time, and when play returned to the other end, Sejdiu panicked and shot hurriedly rather than lay off to a better placed team-mate.
With three minutes remaining it look like Inter had to score. Tamminen made a strong run into the Ilves area, his pass found Jyry, but his close-range shot was blocked by Virtanen. The follow-up from Sejdiu was weak but slithered through the grasp of the keeper, but Miettunen was behind him to make a brave block on the line as Inter players dived in.
When a ball went of the pitch for an Inter throw-in, Ilves substitute Katz, warming up, kicked the ball away, and received a yellow card for his efforts despite not playing in the match !
Inter’s last chance came in the first minute of added on time. Legbo made a storming run down the left only to be brutally body-checked by Maenpaa for one of the most obvious yellow cards you will ever see. When the free-kick was sent into the area, an over-head kick from centre-back Kuittenen went just wide.
Ilves saw out the closing few minutes with no further alarms to maintain their unbeaten start to the season. Inter will be disappointed with the result, but can take confidence from their second half performance, and with more composure in front of goal should be winning matches.
Highlights : https://www.veikkausliiga.com/uutiset/2023/04/16/ruutu-huippuhetket-lauantain-ilves-fc-interista
FC Ilves : Virtanen – Maenpaa, Umar, Miettunen, Aspergen – Moussa ( N’Diaye ), Arifi, Pennanen – Haarela ( Bushara ), Larsson ( Yakubu ), Parfitt-Williams ( Jukkola )
Inter Turku : Huuhtanen – Arciero ( Niska ), Almen, Nurmi ( Ojala ), Kuittenen, Legbo – Forsell ( Sejdiu ), Jarvinen, Jyry – Stavitski ( Lehtisalo ), Smith ( Tamminen )
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