Pep talk restored Finland's focus

A half-time pep talk from coach Michael Käld was the key to UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ hosts Finland beginning their campaign on Sunday with a 1-0 defeat of Denmark according to the victorious players.

Self-belief needed
Denmark were the better side in the first half and it seemed only a matter of time before they took the lead in the Group A game at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium. But everything changed four minutes after the interval when a more determined Finland took the lead through Maija Saari's 49th minute free-kick and Käld's side never looked back. Asked about Käld's message in the changing room, striker Linda Sällström said: "It was that we needed to believe in ourselves more, and to hold the ball more and play a better offensive game."

Confidence found
The goal had a transforming influence on a side that suddenly oozed confidence and came close to increasing their lead before settling for an important win ahead of Wednesday's encounter with fellow Sunday victors the Netherlands. "It felt wonderful," Sällström said of the effect of Saari's strike. "We got a lot more confidence and we really believed that we were going to win." Fellow forward Laura Österberg Kalmari confirmed the backdrop to Finland's revival, saying: "Our coach said we just had to calm down and keep the ball, and trust ourselves, and we did it in the second half. We found each other better and I got more space to move, and I got more passes."

Talking time
Watching from the bench, Käld had clearly not been impressed by what he had seen in the first half of his 100th game in charge. He told uefa.com: "I said to them that they are such good players, but that in the first half we could only put two or three passes together and we ran a lot. I told them that in the second half 'trust yourself, you can do it, you can play the ball. We must put four, five, six passes together.' We did that and we created good chances."