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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Watching Tampere United struggle to a single goal victory over JJK at Ratina yesterday, it occurred to me just how astonishing it is that anyone watches Finnish football. The first half was enjoyably predictable, as TamU attacked and JJk attempted to string a few passes together. JJK's South Korean striker Nam was brought off injured, and someone curled a shot against the bar for the Jyväskyläns (it could very possibly have been Koskela), and Rafinha got the winner when Sinisalo's headed past his own keeper, but overall it was a pretty run of the mill Veikkausliiga match.

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I'm just getting the hang of this twitter business, several decades after most other journalists in the western hemisphere, and as such I thought I'd give it a go while here waiting for TamU v JJK to start. Live updates will be posted throughout the game, if you are at all bothered you can read them from my twitter page.

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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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We apologise for being unable to write a preview of last night's games, but here's an extended round-up to ease the pain.

MYPA - VPS 0-2

I can't help gloryhunting. VPS took a third consecutive win and I just have to support them. If I didn't, I would be scared by them.

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The Finnish newspapers have been full of talk about Veikkausliiga's apparent 'crisis' in the last few weeks. Domestic football in Finland has long suffered from poor facilities, low attendances, players leaving for richer foreign leagues, but these problems have become more prominent recently, and the football media has not been slow to point out the difficulties.

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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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Two Veikkausliiga games will be played on Saturday. Inspired JJK will entertain underachieving Honka and Inter will welome Haka to Veritas Stadion to what, somewhat surprisingly, is a clash between two table-topping teams.

NFN will be present in Turku, treating you to minute-by-minute updates of the game.

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OK, maybe I am taking a step too far in comparing this 19-year old to mr. Litmanen. Still, what a performance! Riski, or RR10, as his recently innovated nickname goes, beautifully set up TPS's 2-0 winning goal against VPS and also put the ball past Henri Sillanpää himself. He was composed with the ball, passing precisely and setting up a number of chances for his mates.

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JJK v HJK, Sunday 6:30pm

This is a tough one to predict. As ever, it all depends on Muurinen's team selection, and the choice between the quick and mobile strikers or the less mobile Mäkelä. He played Mäkelä in the last game, and they got a disappointing draw against Honka, so maybe he will go with a Popovitch-Parikka combination for the JJK game.

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Inter took their third consecutive derby win in Veikkausliiga, beating TPS 2-0. The big difference to last year was that both teams were bad this time around. Inter had most of the ball possession, but that was pretty much useless, as they could only create one chance. It was enough though, as Timo Furuholm found the net to score his team's second in the 75th minute.

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HJK v IFK Mariehamn, Wednesday 6:30pm

This is, somewhat surprisingly, a top of the table clash. IFK have already beaten last season's champions, drawn with one of the favourites for this season, and had a regulation win over wooden spoon-chasers KuPS. This puts them level on points with HJK, who dropped their two points at home to draw specialists TPS.

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VPS Vaasa 2 Honka 5

Highlights

TPS Turku 0 JJK Jyväskylä 0

Highlights

The ice hockey world championships is getting quite a lot of media coverage in Finland at the moment, and ahead of today's Czech Republic-Norway game I asked Lars what he thought of the Norwegian team's chances.

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Veritas Stadion, Turku, 6:30 PM Finnish time

The main focus is on JJK, who make their first Veikkausliiga appearance tonight following two postponements. Unfortunately, the night is unlikely to delight the club or their fans. JJK failed to win in all their games against Veikkausliiga clubs during pre-season, and the first real game could not be much tougher.

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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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As this opening round of Veikkausliiga has been decimated by pitch related postponements, this preview is dedicated to the two men who have actually done quite a lot to get playable pitches in Finland. Harkimo was instrumental in the construction of Finnair Stadium in Töölö, before selling his stake in the ground andwinding up Jokerit's football club, while Håkans played a similar role in the construction of Veritas Stadium in Kupittaa.

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As this opening round of Veikkausliiga has been decimated by pitch related postponements, this preview is dedicated to the two men who have actually done quite a lot to get playable pitches in Finland. Harkimo was instrumental in the construction of Finnair Stadium in Töölö, before selling his stake in the ground andwinding up Jokerit's football club, while Håkans played a similar role in the construction of Veritas Stadium in Kupittaa.

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As this opening round of Veikkausliiga has been decimated by pitch related postponements, this preview is dedicated to the two men who have actually done quite a lot to get playable pitches in Finland. Harkimo was instrumental in the construction of Finnair Stadium in Töölö, before selling his stake in the ground andwinding up Jokerit's football club, while Håkans played a similar role in the construction of Veritas Stadium in Kupittaa.

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EGAN'S PREDICTION JUHA'S PREDICTION 1. FC Honka 1. HJK 2. HJK 2. FC Honka 3. FC Inter 3. Tampere United 4. Tampere United 4. TPS 5. TPS 5. FC Inter 6. FC Lahti 6. FC Lahti 7. FC Haka 7. FC Haka 8. VPS 8. MyPa 9. IFK Mariehamn 9. VPS 10. MyPa 10. FF Jaro 11. FF Jaro 11. IFK Mariehamn 12. KuPS 12. JJK 13. Click to continue reading...

EGAN'S PREDICTION JUHA'S PREDICTION 1. FC Honka 1. HJK 2. HJK 2. FC Honka 3. FC Inter 3. Tampere United 4. Tampere United 4. TPS 5. TPS 5. FC Inter 6. FC Lahti 6. FC Lahti 7. FC Haka 7. FC Haka 8. VPS 8. MyPa 9. IFK Mariehamn 9. VPS 10. MyPa 10. FF Jaro 11. FF Jaro 11. IFK Mariehamn 12. KuPS 12. JJK 13. Click to continue reading...

EGAN'S PREDICTION JUHA'S PREDICTION 1. FC Honka 1. HJK 2. HJK 2. FC Honka 3. FC Inter 3. Tampere United 4. Tampere United 4. TPS 5. TPS 5. FC Inter 6. FC Lahti 6. FC Lahti 7. FC Haka 7. FC Haka 8. VPS 8. MyPa 9. IFK Mariehamn 9. VPS 10. MyPa 10. FF Jaro 11. FF Jaro 11. IFK Mariehamn 12. KuPS 12. JJK 13. Click to continue reading...

In: Jukka-Pekka Tuomanen, Christian Sund, Kim Hyun Kwan, Toni Koskela (until the end of June)

Out: Babatunde Wusu, Juha Veijonen, Marko Kivilä, Ady

Coach: Ville Priha

Claimed playing budget: €470,000

Egan says: The newly promoted Jyväskylä side have kept faith with the squad that won Ykkönen in 2008, by and large.

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In: Jukka-Pekka Tuomanen, Christian Sund, Kim Hyun Kwan, Toni Koskela (until the end of June)

Out: Babatunde Wusu, Juha Veijonen, Marko Kivilä, Ady

Coach: Ville Priha

Claimed playing budget: €470,000

Egan says: The newly promoted Jyväskylä side have kept faith with the squad that won Ykkönen in 2008, by and large.

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Not any huge news today, but there are a few interesting bits of information out there about the Wizards and former Wizards today.
First dealing with current Wizards.
There's not a big mention of this, but the Star did mention today in an article about Jack Jewsbury, that Wizards midfielder, Herculez Gomez will miss a month of training due to an injury. Click to continue reading...

Jyväskylä in Central Finland is a town of about 85 000 people and until today it has held a record they should not be proud of: for a long time Jyväskylä has been the biggest town in Finland that has never had a football club in the top flight of Finnish football. In Jyväskylä, football has [.. Click to continue reading...

This game kicked off at 2pm on Saturday, 3 hours before the Finland-Azerbaijan game and just 100 metres from the Olympic Stadium. The ground is called Bollis, or Pallokenttä, and it is the oldest football ground in Finland. There is only one stand, it is uncovered, but when fans chant the echo from the apartment [. Click to continue reading...

I went to Hämeenlinna on Tuesday to see Viikingit's second defeat of the season. I've been there twice now, both times in very very wet conditions, and I can't help thinking the ground will be very nice in the sun. If the sun ever shines in Hämeenlinna, that is. The game was tight and tense but [. Click to continue reading...