{"id":5534,"date":"2024-10-12T10:49:37","date_gmt":"2024-10-12T10:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/finland-v-england-three-lions-visit-country-where-brits-are-thriving\/"},"modified":"2024-10-12T10:49:38","modified_gmt":"2024-10-12T10:49:38","slug":"finland-v-england-three-lions-visit-country-where-brits-are-thriving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/finland-v-england-three-lions-visit-country-where-brits-are-thriving\/","title":{"rendered":"Finland v England: Three Lions visit country where Brits are thriving"},"content":{"rendered":"


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It is obvious why Finland’s most famous players – such as Sami Hyypia, Jari Litmanen and Teemu Pukki – aspired to play in a league as credible as the Premier League.<\/p>\n

But what about British involvement in Finland – a nation that had not qualified for a major tournament until Euro 2020 – where ice hockey is typically seen as the biggest sport?<\/p>\n

Twelve British players compares to none in the top leagues of Norway and Sweden, with eight each in France and Germany, and four in Spain.<\/p>\n

IFK Mariehamn took a chance on Jayden Reid – who left Portsmouth last season after two years without making an appearance due to injury – while fellow winger Imani Lanquedoc is on loan at FC Haka from Fulham. <\/p>\n

Luke Plange – who Crystal Palace signed for \u00a31 million<\/a> from a Derby County side battling relegation from the Championship under Wayne Rooney – has since played Champions League qualifying matches for HJK Helsinki.<\/p>\n

HJK made a profit from selling last season’s Veikkausliiga top scorer,<\/a> Bojan Radulovic, to the Championship, so might the club see an opportunity for more business later down the line?<\/p>\n

“I think the clubs here assume that if English professionals are willing to come over, they are going to be decent quality,” said Cicale.<\/p>\n

“Finnish football can be a very good platform for exhibiting your abilities – and perhaps if things haven’t gone in such a linear fashion throughout your career – it’s a good opportunity here to show what level you’re still at.”<\/p>\n

Grieve’s view is that the Finnish league is a secure working environment for coaches – and it attracts a different type of player.<\/p>\n

“It is not 100 mph like an EFL game, the technical level here is higher,” he explained.<\/p>\n

“It is way more aggressive and more contact and a ‘free for all’ in Scotland or the lower leagues in England – it’s a different sport in all honesty. <\/p>\n

“People who want to try and develop their career and develop a style of play might be more inclined to go somewhere like Finland.”<\/p>\n

But Coffey has seen a chance to thrive as an unusual type of footballer in the Veikkausliiga.<\/p>\n

“I’ve been kicked and pulled around by men in England, whereas in Sweden and Finland, the lads that I’m playing against are quite young,” he said.<\/p>\n

“Technically, they’re very good players, but I feel like I’ve got a bit of an edge in terms of physicality and aggression.<\/p>\n

“There are many good players in England, but I just don’t think a lot of them want to make the step or they’re quite comfortable living in England and maybe working and playing part-time,” he added.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is obvious why Finland’s most famous players – such as Sami Hyypia, Jari Litmanen and Teemu Pukki – aspired to play in a league as credible as the Premier League. But what about British involvement in Finland – a nation that had not qualified for a major tournament until Euro 2020 – where ice […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5534"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5536,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5534\/revisions\/5536"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}