Finland face formidable Germany

Horst Hrubesch's Germany have history on their side as they look for three points against first-time finalists Finland in Halmstad in the second round of Group B fixtures at the UEFA European Under-21 Championship.

• The sides are separated by a point after Germany drew their opener 0-0 against Spain in Gothenburg on Monday, while Finland were beaten 2-1 by ten-man England at Örjans vall.

• Germany and Finland have met eight times before in qualifying matches for the U21 championship with Germany winning seven of them and Finland just one.

• The full breakdown of results is:
2002 Qualifying Group 9
01.06.01 Finland 1-3 Germany, Tampere
05.10.01 Germany 2-0 Finland, Ahlen

2000 Qualifying Group 3
30.03.99 Germany 2-0 Finland, Weismain
03.09.99 Finland 3-1 Germany, Lahti

1990 Qualifying Group 4
30.08.88, Finland 0-3 West Germany, Kovoula
03.10.89, West Germany 2-0 Finland, Arnsberg

1982 Qualifying Group 1
23.05.81 Finland 1-2 West Germany, Lempaala
22.09.81 West Germany 4-2 Finland, Arnsberg

• Future German internationals Timo Hildebrand, Christoph Metzelder and Tim Borowski all featured the last time these two countries met at this level in 2001. Germany won both qualifying ties that year, although they still failed to qualify from the section.

• Mikael Forssell scored twice and Antti Pohja once to fire Finland to their only competitive victory against Germany in Lahti on 3 September 1999. Germany had won the first group meeting 2-0 six months previously. Both teams finished on 13 points, three behind Turkey who qualified at their expense.

• Andreas Möller partnered Oliver Bierhoff in attack for West Germany during the 1990 qualifying campaign when they won Group 4 without losing a match, recording en route a pair of victories against Finland, who finished bottom. The Germans were subsequently knocked out by the USSR in the quarter-finals.

• West Germany also beat Finland twice in qualifying in the 1982 U21 championship on the way to topping their group, with the Finns bottom. They went on to reach the final where they lost 5-4 on aggregate against England.

• As a player with the Finland national team, U21 coach Markku Kanerva helped his side earn a 1-1 draw away to East Germany in March 1989.

• Kanerva had less success playing for HJK Helsinki against German teams in UEFA's club competitions. His HJK side earned a 0-0 home draw with 1. FC Kaiserslautern in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League group stage but duly went down 5-2 in Germany and finished bottom of their section. In the 1985/86 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup second round, Kanerva's HJK beat 1. FC Dynamo Dresden 1-0 at home but suffered a resounding 7-2 away defeat.

• Finland's Teemu Pukki and Marko Marin of Germany were in opposition in a UEFA European Under-17 Championship Elite round fixture in March 2006, Germany running out 4-0 winners.

• Finland forward Berat Sadik plays his club football in Germany with DSC Arminia Bielefeld.

• As with the U21s, Germany have dominated the senior meetings between the countries, winning 15 of 21 past encounters, with five draws and just one Finnish victory – recorded back in 1923.

• The most recent senior international was a FIFA World Cup qualifier in September last year which finished in a 3-3 draw in Helsinki. Germany forward Miroslav Klose scored a hat-trick of equalisers in the match.

Squad news

• Finland were impressive on their tournament debut against England. "I'm very disappointed we didn't get any points but am very proud of the way we played and the courage and fighting spirit we showed," said coach Markku Kanerva.

• Berat Sadik (sore ankle), Jukka Rajtala (shin), goalscorer Tim Sparv and Jonas Portin (muscle strains) all sustained minor injuries in the opener but will be fit to face Germany.

• The team left Halmstad after the match and returned to their base in Gothenburg.

• Teemu Pukki was booked five minutes after replacing Jarno Parikka and will miss the final group game against Spain if he is cautioned again.

• German trio Ashkan Dejagah, Andreas Beck and Sami Khedira are also within a yellow card of a suspension. All three were booked against Spain.

• "We will stick with the way we played against Spain," Hrubesch said, looking to the meeting with Finland. "Spain were rated among the favourites before the tournament and if you look at the game, they hardly created a clear chance. It makes no sense to change things."

• The coach will be forced into one change, however, after left-back Sebastian Boenisch was withdrawn before half-time with a right ankle injury. Fears of a fracture have been allayed, but he was to undergo a scan just to be on the safe side.

• Marcel Schmelzer is expected to deputise having replaced the Werder Bremen left-back in Gothenburg.