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I hadn’t quite comprehended just how significant this day was. I was a calm personality pretty much all of the time: I had gone from a youth coach at a second tier Finnish football club and I’ve reached the heights of winning the Champions League and barely any of it had even daunted on me, really. Of course, it can be a shock to you once you notice how talented you actually are at something, especially when it’s as lucrative and intelligent as football management, with all the varying aspects.
I had the same feeling here really. Here I was, taking Finland - not only a nation that had not been in a major international tournament before my arrival, but also my home country that nurtured me into the man I am today - into a World Cup Final. Yet despite this supposed weight on my shoulders, I felt nothing. As if this is what my life had been leading up to all these years, from moving from Helsinki to Oulu, starting out as an apprentice at the local club AC Oulu, winning the league titles, moving to Fiorentina, moving to Manchester City, the EUROs and now this. Of course, it’s every little boy’s dream to achieve such heights but only about one in five-hundred million can actually experience.
Today we were up against Holland in the World Cup Final, with their side scraping through the semi’s themselves thanks to a 13th minute Justin Kluivert goal against Denmark. My opposite number: Giovanni van Bronckhorst was pretty much the same as me. His nation had never won a World Cup, no matter how much they had deserved it in decades gone by with the unbelievable teams that they have produced throughout the years. We were both here to win our country’s worldwide bragging rights.
It was only a tap on the shoulder that made me realise that all of my team were looking at me while I was deep in my own thoughts. I lifted my head up with my mouth hung open before searching for my notepad with the lineup for tonight’s game. I went over to the whiteboard in the changing rooms and started drawing little circles that depicted players in their positions.
’13. Keskinen, CB: 4. Vaisanen, 5. Niemi, 18. Nurmi RWB: 2. Kazi, LWB: 3. Uronen, DM: 6. Tainio, CM: 7. Huhtamaki, 8. Kairinen, ST: 19. Savolainen, 9. Pohjanpalo’ I wrote, all in their positions. I looked across the room. The lineup was familiar to many until I glanced at Teemu Savolainen - the striker that I used to manage at AC Oulu and who has now gone on to achieve great things in his career since moving on. He was gobsmacked that he was starting, with Oliver Antman usually in his starting spot alongside Joel Pohjanpalo. We caught eyes with each other as he looked away from the whiteboard briefly, I smiled and nodded to him.
“The lot of you: you know what to do, it’s just one more win and you are champions of the world - it’s up to you whether you want to be known as that for the next four years. Teemu,” I said, looking at Teemu Savolainen who was still delighted that he was starting today. “You’re going to do something big today, I can see it in your eyes.” I let the silence run for the next five seconds before the changing rooms buzzer went off to signal that the players and staff needed to make their way to the pitch entrance.
With the players lining up for the biggest game of their careers, I wandered out before them into my spot in the dugout. I wanted to see my players from the touchline as the touchline had become my home in the past few years. I wanted to be like a parent watching my kids enter the school on their first day of education.
Unlike club football, I didn’t feel as much nervousness as a major club fixture simply because I knew half of the crowd were from corporate companies who had forked out fortunes for a ticket at the expense of the loyal national team fans who had been priced out of turning up. It was completely different to the partisanship of club football. However, it didn’t make me value this moment less. Although it was to be performed in front of the corporate bodies in the local vicinity, the shockwaves that a result would send through the world and back home, back in Oulu where people there saw me as a local hero years before. That is what made this so important to me.
Our national anthem was performed after the Dutch.
Maamme - “Our Land” in English - was being belted out by every passionate Finn across the planet, louder than ever before and I joined them in doing so, looking across the line of players that I had entrusted to take over the world with tonight. Although I could barely hear it inside the stadium, I could hear the roar in every home, every bar in Finland as the players darted out to every corner of the pitch in excitement.
It was to be Teemu Savolainen who would kick off this historic fixture for both nations. My mind switched from the effervescent patriotism to the task at hand - winning the World Cup Final and bringing the most valuable trophy in world football to Finland.
For some reason, I kept looking over to Teemu Savolainen and his movement. He looked focused, not nervous. I could tell when one of my players felt nervous, particularly in such a high-profile match. But I knew Teemu from my Oulu days - he always rose to the challenge. Tuomas Keskinen had a free-kick in his own box. The three players at the center of defence always consistently provided my goalkeeper with at least one option, which he chose to go with Noah Nurmi this time. Nurmi knew the drill, especially with a lack of quality in comparison to our star-studded opponents. He hoofed the ball up to the huge figure of Savolainen, he nodded the ball on while facing towards goal and got the better of Virgil van Dijk. It was then that I noticed that the lad was one-on-one. The Dutch keeper came rushing out which was when Savolainen made his decision.
With a brief look up to see the goalkeeper’s movement, Savolainen pulled back his right foot, with his standing leg firmly implanted in the turf. The ball rolled just in front of him when he staggered the movement of his right leg to take it around the goalkeeper’s already committed body. Savolainen went around De Graaf before calmly slotting the ball into the back of Holland’s goal in front of the full-capacity 82,000 MetLife Stadium.
I fell to my knees as my players took the goalscorer down with a rugby tackle before letting the pile-on of bodies ensue. I looked up to the afternoon sky, the beautiful New Jersey sun shining down upon me. I pounded the turf with my fist out of jubilation, we were ahead and eighty minutes remained until we were to be crowned as world champions. Savolainen, out of breath from being underneath at least eight fully-grown men came running over to me, despite the referee’s aggressive whistle blowing to get him back on the Finnish side of the field to kick off again. He came up and hugged me whispering: “That one’s for you, boss.” I grinned for the next five seconds before the referee’s whistle for Holland to restart the game brought me plummeting back to the football game.
The hard part was now upon us and I quickly realised with the pace that Holland were attacking us at. Uronen stopped the threat of Justin Kluivert with a simple standing tackle that went out for a throw-in. “Well played, Jere! Absolutely fucking fantastic!” I screamed, relieved at Holland being denied a quickfire strike back.
In the final minute of added time we had a throw-in over on the far side. Kaan Kairinen was the obvious candidate to receive the ball from Uronen. As predicted, the ball went in towards Kairinen’s feet right on the edge of the box. It was then that I saw Kaan take a fall and heard the whistle’s blow. “Penalty!!!” My bench shouted. Despite not hearing this, the referee did the VAR motion with his hands and began running towards us to check out the monitor. It was definitely a foul as it was a blatant push, it was just a matter of if it was inside or outside the penalty area. One of my coaches was reprimanded by the fourth official for shouting at the referee while checking the footage. The referee turned back onto the pitch but held his hand up pointing towards Holland’s goal, not to the penalty spot. He had given a free-kick. We simply had to get over it, despite a portion of the crowd disputing the referee’s decision.
After the free-kick it was half-time, with the players coming into the dressing room, they were greeted with a huge hug each. The last was Teemu Savolainen - the goalscorer and the man who had been so shocked to be starting in the first place - and he received the warmest embrace from me and the rest of the backroom and playing staff.
“I’m not even giving you a team-talk this time, guys,” I said, with a slight smirk on the face. “I barely gave you one before the game, but the fact is that we are ahead, we have the advantage over them. You’ve done this plenty of times this tournament and in the past - that’s the whole reason why Germany never qualified. You talk amongst yourselves because you know what to do from here.” I left them with that before heading over to talk with my staff about the potential direction of this game on a tactical basis.
With the second half kicking off with Benali, I looked behind me at the twelve substitutes lined up, knowing that all of them would dream of getting on this pitch in these circumstances. It was then that I decided that Thomas Lam - retiring from international football after this game - would come on the pitch to replace Noah Nurmi. The glint in his eye when I ran him through his positional details was a beautiful thing.
From the whistle of the second half, Holland were dominating. I knew we were stable at the back and that Thomas Lam provided a freshness to the central back three, as well as the defensive three in front of them. We were being bombarded with Holland attacks and I even brought Teemu Savolainen back for defensive duties at that point. One of my technical coaches showed me the statistics. We had had two shots compared to Holland’s ten and we had only had 30% of the ball possession. I knew these stats were not going to swing in our favour at any point so I solidified the defence with another change, with Maximus Tainio coming off for Glen Kamara.
The defence was so tired as we entered the last few additional minutes of the 90 minutes, so it was a relief to see Tariq Kazi run out with the ball on a counter attacking chance in the 92nd minute which got the Finnish fans excited. Kazi played the ball inside to Glen Kamara and I saw Savolainen making a run, peeling off of Ditewig. “Play it to Teemu!!!” I screamed at Kamara, which he responded to by taking a touch out and firing a ball high to Savolainen. The striker watched the ball come across his body from a height. It was then that he volleyed the ball into the back of the net, sending the fans, staff and players into raptures. Midway through the celebrations it was noticed that the assistant had flagged for offside with Savolainen being the offender. I realised this and I saw an opportunity, despite a goal being chalked off. It was the 92nd minute of the game, we were seconds away from being world champions. “KEEP CELEBRATING!” I shouted out. “KILL MORE TIME CELEBRATING!!!” I said before I chose to run onto the pitch in celebration along with my staff in an attempt of time-wasting. It took the fourth official to take me back to my dugout and explained the situation, with me pretending to be surprised by the news that the goal had been disallowed.
With one last punt upfield by Aleksi Niemi, it was then that the full-time whistle blew. The arms behind the backs of everybody on our bench detached as we launched ourselves onto the field. I had been wearing a three-piece suit and I chucked my suit jacket on the pitch to celebrate as freely as possible. In just my waistcoat, I knee slid which then turned into me laying on my back, facing directly up at the sky. Teemu Savolainen, Antti Huhtamaki, Oliver Antman, Aleksi Niemi and Noah Nurmi all ran up to me. They were all players that I had nurtured at Oulu and turned into world champions today. They put their hands behind my back and picked me up, gathering all the rest of the Finland squad around me. With the World Cup sat at the top of the east stand, I was thrown up in the air three times as a celebration.
It was only then that I confirmed to myself that I was one of the best that has ever lived.
TheLFCFan: The man advantage definitely helped as we were able to crowd out the middle of the field. The win has been achieved, we have done it!
Justice: Cmooonnnn!!!
BigMaguire: Cheers mate! Thanks for your comments on the graphics, I try to make it look as good as possible
Scott: Uronen is arguably the player of the tournament, at least for Finland! Didot is certainly a strange appointment, but he has done well - aside from the Semi-Final result
SonOfAnarchy: He’s a very talented and now experienced international player! I have done as you asked
Go and win it now.
