In part three of our pictorial roundup of 2009, we focus on the senior men's national team. Click on the photos to enlarge.

Baxter had an eventful 2009. Finland's qualification efforts ran aground, and the introduction of younger players went more slowly than many Finland fans would have liked.

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Haka (2nd) TPS (3rd), Monday 7 PM
Live on Urheilukanava and streams

PREVIEW: This week and the next are of definitive nature as far as the title race is concerned. TPS will play both Haka and table-topping HJK this week, and two wins could see them occupy the driving seat.

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Veikkausliiga heads north today, with long journeys deep into the countryside for HJK and Tampere United. RoPS, KuPS and VPS all have nice grounds but terrible pitches, and the difficulty of getting results there has been evident in recent seasons, with VPS acting as a bit of a bogey side for TamU and KuPS getting a memorable 3-2 win against HJK late last season to help them to a play-off spot.

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The preview of the sxth round should take many forms, the first one being a homage to Pasi Rautiainen. This Monday's match between Honka and TPS in Tapiola turned into something of a media event, with most of the Finnish under-21 squad presented with roses for their achievement in failing to win a single game or point, and scoring a solitary penalty during their three matches in Sweden.

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FC Honka (5th) TPS (3rd), Monday 7 PM
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Ilta-Sanomat's Ville Väänänen already declared that the title race will be run between three teams. There are 13 games to be played, but he is on the right track. Haka and HJK are five points adrift from TPS, who are third with a game in hand.

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Last night, a great night from brand new KuPS signing Dickson Nwakaeme helped KuPS to a 3-0 win over RoPS, while TamU did exactly what was needed and overcame JJK with the scoreline 1-0. A more detailed round-up is on the way once the round is completed, but for now we are taking a look at today's games

FC Inter (7th) FC Lahti (9th), Sunday 6:30 PM

As the league table indicates, both sides are underperforming.

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Here we go again. Tonight has two games in store for us, followed by four on Sunday and one on Monday. I'll only be previewing Saturday's games for now, because I have to go and attend a drunken psycho circus of 30 000 people.

Tampere United (10th) JJK (13th), Saturday 6:30 PM

Underachieving TamU can hope for European spots at best, but they did show some promise when they cancelled out a two-goal deficit and emerged as the victors in their last game against Inter on Wednesday.

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Full rounds are for losers, so instead, Veikkausliiga continues with Wednesday's three games, all of which kick off at 6:30 PM.

Tampere United (11th) FC Inter (7th)

Inter are a good team on their day, but they can also be a bad team, like last Sunday at HJK. To aggravate the problem, Patrick Bantamoi is suspended for this game because he has apparently been watching too much hockey.

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TPS won MYPA 3-1 and Lahti took a 2-1 win over Tampere United. The latter meant that my prediction accuracy fell from 100% to 50% compared to Wednesday's round of games, and I'm too disillusioned to round the games up in any more depth now. I will round them up later, however, once the whole round is over.

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Here we go again. We have two games that start at weird times. It could be a good thing, as it is very hot in Finland this weekend and people are outdoors anyway, even if it is eight o'clock in the evening. Maybe a few will find their way to a football match?

FC Lahti (1oth) Tampere United (11th), 7:30 PM

Lahti are having a difficult time in Veikkausliiga, having lost four of their last five games.

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Sorry for the recent silence as far as NFN's Finland section is concerned. If you're wondering why we're so quiet over the U21 European Championships, we have a simple explanation: Egan is following the tournament in Sweden as it unfolds, and is covering the proceedings for ESPN Soccernet. Meanwhile, I will treat you to a Veikkausliiga preview.

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Veikkausliiga is kind of in the middle of a break because of the U21 European Championships. "Kind of" here means that in the public view, the league is on a break, but at the same time some fixtures are being played. A good way to get rid of spectators, I have to say.

Last night, MYPA took a 2-0 away win at KuPS.

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Stakes are high on Wednesday night as Finland and Russia take on the pitch at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium for their World Cup 2010 qualifier. With Germany having the upper hand in group 4 and Wales, Azerbaijan and Liechenstein pretty much out of contention, the stage is set for Finland and Russia to seal the fate of the second spot that would mean a place in the play-offs for whichever side claims it.

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FC Inter - FC Honka
Turku, 7 PM
Live on Urheilukanava and streams

The two teams are quite similar in terms of their flowing movement with short passes, and are thus able to make this an entertaining fixture. The teams are four and six points from top respectively, and both are in need of a win tonight if they want to be on the cutting edge as far as the title race is concerned.

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FC Inter - VPS

I am just about to hop on the VPS bandwagon. They scored two goals against RoPS on Sunday, a rare treat for their fans, and rumours are circulating that the central market place in Vaasa has already been booked for VPS' title celebrations in October.

Still, Inter are too strong for the Ostrobothnian side.

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TPS - IFK Mariehamn

TPS basically have the edge in this game, but it all depends on how they play. If they build on last week's win over VPS and produce another confident display, they should be able to win the game, but if they are inefficient and start pushing it, the game will turn out much more difficult, even more so as IFK Mariehamn really know how to play against "better" teams.

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JJK have had an encouraging start to their first ever campaign in the Finnish top flight. They have already managed to limit TPS, Haka and HJK to draws, and nothing suggests that they could not cause another upset against Honka, especially as Honka have had a poor start to this year's Veikkausliiga.

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Wednesday 13th, 6:30 PM

Jaro have had a solid start to the season while VPS are still struggling with the fact that they cannot score goals. They have scored twice in their first four games, and are not helped by the fact that Jan Ahlvik, Pekka Kainu, Jussi Aalto and Petteri Forsell are missing.

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Hietalahti, Vaasa, 7 PM Finnish time
Live on Urheilukanava

Hermanni Vuorinen has been reminiscing about Honka's 2005 promotion season ahead of tonight's trip to Vaasa. Back then Honka won a crucial match at Hietalahti, with big Hermanni scoring two goals, and of course Vuorinen has fond memories of the place.

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The second round of games, similarly to the first, shrank a bit because newly promoted JJK joined the already too long list of teams who had to cancel their opening fixture. VPS and Haka kicked off the round yesterday, with the latter snapping a 1-0 away win thanks to a goal from Pietari Holopainen.

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The second round of games, similarly to the first, shrank a bit because newly promoted JJK joined the already too long list of teams who had to cancel their opening fixture. VPS and Haka kicked off the round yesterday, with the latter snapping a 1-0 away win thanks to a goal from Pietari Holopainen.

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After a lot of tut-tutting over Craig Bellamy's idiotic comments, the Finnish squad is looking a little bit threadbare as they prepare for the vitally important friendly against Norway. Lillestrom keeper Otto Fredriksson will watch the game from the sidelines so as to avoid aggravating a troublesome knee. Click to continue reading...

After a lot of tut-tutting over Craig Bellamy's idiotic comments, the Finnish squad is looking a little bit threadbare as they prepare for the vitally important friendly against Norway. Lillestrom keeper Otto Fredriksson will watch the game from the sidelines so as to avoid aggravating a troublesome knee. Click to continue reading...

After a lot of tut-tutting over Craig Bellamy's idiotic comments, the Finnish squad is looking a little bit threadbare as they prepare for the vitally important friendly against Norway. Lillestrom keeper Otto Fredriksson will watch the game from the sidelines so as to avoid aggravating a troublesome knee. Click to continue reading...