Lawrence Smith's second half goal kickstarted the VPS comeback win over RoPS on Sunday afternoon at Keskuskentta Stadium in Rovaniemi. Click to continue reading...

Lawrence Smith and VPS hit the road to take on next-to-last place RoPS at Keskuskentta Stadium in Rovaniemi on Sunday. Click to continue reading...

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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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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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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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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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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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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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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RoPS have fallen to the bottom of the Veikkausliiga table, and the scapegoat has been found. It is not CEO Jouko Kiistala, who once again has the privilege of boasting with the fact that he has managed to build another team that might just be able to stay up, if everything goes right. Instead, he was the person, alongside chairman Risto Niva, responsible for finding the scapegoat.

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It's not April Fools' Day, and I'm not kidding for any other reason either. See for yourself. Tony Björk found the net on the 12th minute and Antonio Inutile doubled the lead 11 minutes later. The two goals were enough to leave RoPS all alone in the relegation spot, and anger the fans. A thread demanding the resignation of CEO Jouko Kiistala was soon opened on Finland's biggest football message board, and the fans might have a point.

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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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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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Tampere United v FC Honka, Sunday 6:30pm

Tampere United have all the finesse, skill, confidence and panache of a bag of used cat litter right now. Their 1-0 loss to Haka was not an awful performance, but their goalkeeper messes up big time and they lost. he's a young lad and should be replaced, but now Mikko kaven has a knee injury.

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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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Thursday's Veikkausliiga round should not be lacking in emotion on the pitch, as the derby day will dawn in Turku, Pirkanmaa and Helsinki.

Thursday 14 th, 6:30 PM

HJK put in a dismal performance which earned them a 1-0 loss at MyPa. Nevertheless, they have produced good results in the early stages of the campaign and currently top the table together with Inter.

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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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FC Haka 1 HJK 2

Highlights

MyPa 4 Tampere United 1

Highlights

Inter Turku 1 FF Jaro 0

Highlights

IFK Mariehman 3 KuPS 0

Highlights

FC Lahti 4 RoPS 1

Highlights

The all new Tehttaan kenttä is quite an experience.

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Haka v HJK

This is Finland's classico, the game between the historical heavyweights with more titles between them than they know what to do with. It's also Haka's first home game, Sedu Koskinen's first chance to bring the magic of a summer of music festivals and family-friendly entertainment to Tehtaan Kenttä.

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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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In: Joonas Ikäläinen, Jarno Tenkula, Ville Syväjärvi, Marko Koivuranta, Jeferson Pires, Echiabhi Okodugha, Jung-Hyuk kwon

Out: Antti Uimaniemi, Philip Edeipo, Mika Nurmela, Juha Majava, Daniel Bauer, Patrice Ollo N'doumba

Coach: Valeri Bondarenko

Claimed playing budget: €250,000

Egan says: Rovaniemi has had problems providing facilities for a top flight football team, and the installation of an artificial pitch at Keskuskenttä looks set to disrupt RoPS's season once again.

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TamU beat Honka 4-3 in an entertaining game that saw TamU stir up the title race once again. A few weeks ago they got a home win against Inter and now the other title candidate was treated to a defeat at their hands. FC Lahti - IFK Mariehamn A win would guarantee IFK Mariehamn a place in [...] Click to continue reading...

FC Lahti and TamU kicked off the 18th round on Friday and the matched ended in a 2-2 draw. Dramatically, TamU were up by one until the 90th minute. Then Jari Litmanen scored in stoppage time and two minutes later Jonne Kemppinen gave the hosts the lead. Nobody expected TamU to get a result anymore, [. Click to continue reading...

KuPS - HJK 3-2 VPS - FC KooTeePee 1-1 MyPa - RoPS 1-0 FC Honka - TPS 2-2 TamU - FC Haka 1-1 FC Inter - FC Lahti 1-0 IFK Mariehamn - FF Jaro CANCELLED Inter have signed a great deal with the football gods. They won FC Lahti in front of over 8000 people willing to see Jari Litmanen in action, [...] Click to continue reading...

SOMETIMES interviews take a different course to that envisaged beforehand. Zambian striker Zeddy Saileti's meeting with the Helsinki Times is one such occasion, because when we meet Saileti is not a happy man. His team, RoPS, have lost 5-0 to Tampere United, and Saileti knows who to blame: the referee. Click to continue reading...

Juha raised a good question the other day about Finnish teams in Europe. Are they happy to draw big clubs, in the expectation that they will get a drubbing and a bumper crowd, or do they prefer to get the unkown teams that might offer a chance of priogress? TamU's co-owner Tim Rowe was rather [...] Click to continue reading...

FF Jaro - Tampere United 1-4 RoPS - FC Inter 0-0 HJK - IFK Mariehamn 4-0 MyPa - FC Honka 0-2 FC Haka - VPS 1-0 FC Lahti - FC KooTeePee 1-0 TPS - KuPS 3-3 Click on the game for highlights. TPS-KuPS should appear later. Inter still did not lose, but their form is not so amazing anymore. They have drawn six [. Click to continue reading...

Once again, the games start on Saturday and the last one will be played on Wednesday - so if my predictions go wrong as far as Wednesday's TPS-KuPS is concerned, I'll blame it on having to write the preview so early. FF Jaro - Tampere United This is Saturday's only game. TamU are probably tired following their [. Click to continue reading...

RoPS built their convincing 4-0 win against KuPS on some excellent finishing at the offensive end. Chileshe Chibwe netted twice to give RoPS a 2-0 lead and the job was finished by Mika Nurmela and Juha Majava in the second half. Chibwe scored his first in the 6th with an excellent header and bagged another [. Click to continue reading...

TamU lost yesterday, but the stats show a decent performance. The result sent MyPa to the top of the league, and kept TamU down in  lower mid-table. They will almost certainly have to rely on the cup to get into Europe this year, and they have a tough Quarter Final draw: FC Haka – TP-47 FC Honka [. Click to continue reading...