Draw with England boosts Finns

With the lush carpeting and the artillery of questions concerning England, this could have been a press conference at Lancaster Gate. Finland, home to Mika Hakkinen and a winter climate even more miserable than our own, might have sent a team to Ireland for this evening's match but their exploits will be observed most keenly by scouts from across the Irish Sea.

Finland will provide Sven-Goran Eriksson with his first competitive challenge at Anfield on March 24th, with the consensus being that a home win is essential if England's fragmented morale is to be rebuilt ahead of the next World Cup.

Having merrily inflicted an agonising draw on the listing English in the wake of Kevin Keegan's departure, the Finns are approaching the return game with little trepidation and see tonight's friendly as perfect preparation.

"I saw both the Irish games against Holland and Portugal and it was plain that it was a very good Irish side and you have to remember that both the opposition teams finished in the last four of the recent European Championships," reasons Finland midfielder Jari Litmanen.

"But for this evening's game, I think that the Irish are missing several key players, which will make it easier for us - not easy, but at least easier." Litmanen has been the darling of the visiting squad after joining Barcelona amidst rapturous publicity at home. As his international colleague, Hearts goalkeeper Antti Niemi puts it, "he has shown everyone in Finland, home of ice hockey, that our players can make it in Europe."

This season, however, Litmanen has been consigned to obscurity at the Spanish club and newspapers are rife with rumours about his transfer to a different club. The player himself remains wryly humorous about his own predicament.

"I read those newspapers too. Everything is good except that I am not playing. That is not so good.

"But the president and trainer at Barcelona, both of whom wanted me to play there, both finished their jobs last season and now I am not being picked, for some reason."

His situation begs comparison with that of Robbie Keane, who is stoically enduring well-publicised teething problems in the temperamental environment of Inter Milan. Litmanen was unsurprised, if politely sympathetic towards the Tallaght youngster's experience. "Well, it is difficult going abroad as a young player in that you not only face a lot of competition from team-mates to gain a place, but also outside difficulties.

"You are in a place with no real friends or family and have to start your life from point zero," he said.

Litamen must spend his hours on the Barca bench reading up on the soccer lore of his native country, such an authority is he. Affable and wonderfully inscrutable, he concedes that soccer in Finland is on a high but stresses that they have caused surprises, such as their home draw against England, before.

"I remember we beat the great Dutch team with Van Basten and Gullit in the late 1980s. Even when we last played Ireland, 10 years ago in a friendly, it was 1-1, a draw, so . . . the problem was that we didn't get good results often.

"In the 1980s, many of our players would be working half a day or studying. Now, they are almost all playing soccer fulltime."

The state decision to plough money into indoor stadia - the country has 14 full-size indoor pitches and almost 40 artificial surfaces - has seen a startling rise in the standard of soccer played in Finland.

Hakkinen remains the national hero and ice hockey draws from a bigger fan base, but the influx of home players into the Premiership and Scottish League has seen the game take a firm grip on the imagination.

It also means that the visiting players will be more than familiar with their Irish opposition tonight.

Niemi said: "(Mark) Kinsella is a player I have a lot of regard for - I was on loan at Charlton last year and saw him to be a fine midfielder and a good person too. And I know that he picked up an award here for his play.

"Obviously Roy Keane is the biggest player that Ireland has, and Robbie Keane I know from his days at Coventry, another fine young player." Friendly in that glacial Scandinavian way, the only time Niemi's expression betrayed surprise was when he was asked if he felt his days with Rangers might lead to a bit of ribbing from the Lansdowne Road crowd.

"Well, I wouldn't like to think so, but I do understand that in this part of the world Celtic is a bigger team than Rangers," he allowed with a diplomatic smile.

Finland's coach, Antti Muurinen, will probably use tonight's game to get a look at newcomers like Petri Pasanen and Crystal Palace's Mikael Forssell, mindful of that crunch tie with England next year.

While most people will expect a cosy home win to keep the feel-good vibes floating around Lansdowne Road, Finland will be anxious to maintain their impressive form.

"Getting a draw against England was good, but the way that we played was also very pleasing," said Litmanen.

"In our group, Germany and England are the two big names and the Germans have started very well, but the English - not so after three games.

"I think what we are hoping to do is finish second in the group and go into a play-off," he concluded.

Tonight, then, is a warm-up for the March showdown in England, a game that will afford Litmanen the opportunity to play on the home turf of Liverpool, the team he used to follow as a youngster.

"There is another team in Liverpool as well . . . I cannot remember their name," he quipped.

But wasn't he once actually linked with Everton?

"In the newspapers," shrugged Litmanen, with a make-of-it-what-you-will smile.