Finland's big day arrives at last

It has been nearly three years since Finland's last competitive game and as the hosts prepare to kick off UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ Group A against Denmark at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium, coach Mikael Käld declared: "I just can't wait for the referee to start the game."

Close encounters
Denmark beat Finland 1-0 on 27 September 2006 to qualify for the following year's FIFA Women's World Cup, some revenge for the 2-1 loss the year before that took Käld's side through to the UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2005™ semi-finals. Excused qualifying, they have been preparing this year with a series of friendlies but now, in front of a expected Finnish record crowd for a women's international of more than 20,000, this is for real.

'Tough game'
"I think it will be a very tough game," said Käld, who was forced to replace defender Heini Tiilikainen with the uncapped 18-year-old Maiju Hirvonen on Saturday due to a foot injury. "We know Denmark very well and how they will play. They have some very good players and are a strong, physical team so we have to be very tight. But the home crowd will give us a lot of energy, which is what the players need." He added: "We have good pace up front and Denmark's defence maybe isn't the fastest in the world."

Pressure
He knows the pressure is much higher than four years ago. "Of course when we are at home, with all the spectators, the pressure is higher than 2005. Then the preparations were about five or six months, we didn't have much time to think about it. Now we have been thinking about this for two and a half years and we are putting pressure on ourselves because we know we can do it."

Denmark boost
Meanwhile, Denmark coach Kenneth Heiner-Møller had a big boost on Saturday – his side is at last injury free, after problems with the likes of Lene Jensen, Johanna Rasmussen, Julie Rydahl Bukh and Cathrine Paaske Sørensen. "I'm happy to say that for the first time in two months we have 22 people training today," Heiner-Møller said. "That is quite exciting, one pitch, 22 players, I don't know how it will work!"

Pedersen thrill
His captain Katrine Pedersen is playing in her seventh major finals and the defender still feels the thrill, even after winning 151 caps. "We know it will be a hard game, we have found that out the hard way," Pedersen said as she prepared to face opponents who have been such rivals to Denmark of late, despite her nation's historic dominance. "Even though it's my seventh tournament I'm just as excited as when I was younger. We have the statistics on our side but in the last few years we've had trouble with Finland."