Finland first for emerging England

By Kevin Ashby in Preston

Having not played a competitive fixture since November 2002, England's return to tournament football could not be more eagerly awaited as the hosts tackle Finland in a Group A fixture which will officially launch the 2005 UEFA European Women's Championship on Sunday evening.

Drawing board
France were England's opponents that night in Saint-Etienne, winning 1-0 to complete a 2-0 aggregate success that sent Les Bleues to the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup and the English to the drawing board. Powell and her team of coaches have used the intervening years wisely, investment and dedication bringing through an exciting crop of talent which appears to be peaking just in time for the biggest women's football tournament ever to grace this continent.

Positive results
England are in the midst of their best run in 18 years after winning nine of their ten pre-tournament friendlies, yet know such positive results will count for nothing if they do not perform in front of a fervent crowd in excess of 25,000 at the City of Manchester stadium. "The pressure is something we have to take into account," said Powell. "At the moment we're very relaxed and have done a lot of work around it. But we have to control what we can and that will be our approach in the games."

Finland ready
With much of the pre-match coverage unashamedly focusing on the host nation, it is easy to overlook the fact that Finland possess a team well capable of pooping England's party. Like England under Powell, the Finns have flourished under Mickael Käld; their progress manifesting itself in a 4-1 play-off victory against Russia last October. "I saw on the players faces in Moscow what it meant to them," said the coach. "We've been looking forward to this for seven months and are ready."

Success in Sweden
Finland have profited from their leading players moving to play in the Swedish Allsvenskan, with captain Sanna Valkonen and midfield duo Anne Mäkinen and Jessica Julin on the books of Umeå IK and key striker Laura Kalmari employed by Djurgården/Älvsjö. Mäkinen, Finland's greatest player, previously enjoyed a successful spell in professional football in the United States, playing alongside Kelly Smith who enjoys a similarly lofty status in England.

'Top five'
Despite Makinen hailing her former Philadelphia Charge team-mate as "definitely one of the top five players in the world", Smith is likely to start from the bench on Sunday as she is not yet fully match fit following a series of injuries. England will be captained by Faye White, one of five survivors from the team of 2001 that suffered heavy defeats by Sweden and Germany in the group stage and mustered only a point from a draw with Russia.

Lasting legacy
A similar showing would represent a huge disappointment as the Football Association look to this tournament to create a similar legacy to what EURO '96™ did for the men's game. Yet Powell is confident that will not be the case. "We want the players to enjoy the whole occasion and make every moment and every second count," she said, with an eye on maximum points in Manchester ahead of the game against Denmark on Wednesday, when Finland meet Sweden.

England (probable): Jo Fletcher; Alex Scott, Faye White (c), Mary Phillip, Rachel Unitt; Emily Westwood, Katie Chapman, Fara Williams; Jody Handley, Amanda Barr, Rachel Yankey.

Finland (probable): Satu Kunnas; Eveliina Sarapää, Sanna Valkonen (c), Tiina Salmén, Petra Vaelma; Jessica Thorn, Anne Mäkinen, Jessica Julin, Anna-Kaisa Rantanen; Laura Kalmari, Heidi Kackur.

Referee: Gyöngyi Gaal (Hungary)
Assistants: Blazenka Logarusic (Croatia), Irina Mirt (Romania).