Blog #10 – Heading to Finland!!  To the Lucky Owl!!
Tuesday, Sept 11, 2007
Sitting at the Frankfurt airport waiting for my flight.  It is 1:45pm and I fly to Helskinki at 2:15pm.

Salia a parent from Finland of a boy named Yusef I coach in Petaluma United ,  and I have been talking for several weeks about this big match.  She explained how this is the biggest sporting event since the Olympics in Helskinki .

Finland has never qualified for a major tournament in soccer.  World Cup and European Cup are the major tournaments.  This is the closest they have ever come and the entire country is behind the team.

Even the lucky owl!!  Salia told me about how this owl comes to the stadium only for football and not track and field or other sports.  It goes away and seems to come back and sit on the goal for the Finnish National Football Team. 

I am heading to the plane!!!

See below for and article and link for a picture of the owl:=584298.html

Finland ready to take flight
Tuesday 11 September 2007
by Mikael Erävuori
from Helsinki

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Finland's UEFA EURO 2008™ qualifying campaign has confounded many, not least the nation's ornithologists, and should they claim victory against Poland in Helsinki they would go top of Group A with three games to go. It is being billed as the most important match in Finnish footballing history and 36,500 fans are expected at the Olympiastadion, hoping for a win – and the reappearance of a lucky mascot.

Lucky owl After a strong start to qualifying, Roy Hodgson's team appeared to be faltering after seven qualifiers when successive defeats by Azerbaijan and Serbia left them struggling to keep apace with the section leaders. A win against Belgium in June would get them back on track but that did not appear likely early on as they struggled to get a grip on the game – then a large owl swooped down into the stadium. Depending where you are in the world owls signify anything from misfortune to prosperity and thankfully for the home side it turned out to be the latter. After a delay of several minutes the owl settled behind the Finland goal and soon after Jonatan Johansson scored at the other end to set his side on course for a 2-0 triumph.'Final step' "I don't know about the owl's whereabouts," said goalkeeper Jussi Jääskeläinen. "Some think it brings us luck, but I think luck is something you earn after years of hard work." That is certainly true of Finland and has born dividends this campaign, with results such as Wednesday's impressive goalless draw away to Serbia becoming commonplace. The stalemate left them second in Group A, two points behind Poland but two clear of third-placed Portugal, though Luiz Felipe Scolari's team have a game in hand. "Just thinking about the teams behind us, we have already achieved a lot," said Johansson. "However, there's still the final step to take and I hope we can go all the way."

'Big opportunity' That would represent a historic first for the Finns, who have never before appeared in a major finals. "We have every chance with just four matches to play; this is a rare moment in Finnish football history," said defender Petri Pasanen. "The Poland match is a big opportunity for us." The supporters do not need to be told and are expected to turn out in droves, further strengthening their hopes. "We'll play in front of a full stadium, which is superb. I just hope it will be a great night for players and fans alike and that we can give them a reason to celebrate," said Toni Kallio, who returns from suspension. Mika Väyrynen is doubtful with a calf injury but even if he, like the owl, is absent on Wednesday Finland are confident this is their time.

Finland faces Poland for top spot in Euro 2008 qualifying group

The Associated Press
Published: September 11, 2007

HELSINKI, Finland: Finland hopes to boost its chances of reaching its first major soccer tournament as it hosts group leader Poland in a European Championship qualifier on Wednesday.

A victory at Helsinki's Olympic Stadium would put the Finns in the lead of qualifying Group A — an unfamiliar situation for the Nordic country.

English coach Roy Hodgson got off to a flying start last year when Finland opened the qualifying campaign with a 3-1 win away against Poland, but the Finns expect a tougher match on Wednesday.

"Finland played a great game in Poland, but the Poles were pretty disorganized then, they had just made a change of coach. I believe Poland is different now, a very strong team," Finland striker Mikael Forssel said.

Both teams are coming off draws in their previous qualifiers: Finland tied Serbia away in a scoreless match while Poland played 2-2 at Portugal.

Despite the home advantage, Finland is likely to field the same defensive lineup that started in Belgrade, with the exception of left back Toni Kallio, who is returning from suspension.

Poland will miss two suspended players, Marcin Wasilewski and Grzegorz Bronowicki, who were booked in Lisbon. Coach Leo Beenhakker conceded he had trouble finding replacements.

"First, we must analyze what happened in the match with Portugal, next, we need to count our losses and only then we will think what to do with such a serious problem," he told the Rzeczpospolita newspaper.

Ebi Smolarek — Poland's top scorer with four goals — said the team is going to Finland to win.

"The Finns are not playing that well for the moment," Smolarek said. "We have to improve on our own play in Portugal because we are not coming to Helsinki to take one point. Only a win will satisfy."

Finland will be without injured veteran Jari Litmanen, who orchestrated the win in Poland last year with two goals. But Hodgson has found an able replacement in the offensive midfield position in Alexei Eremenko Jr., a skillful dribbler and free-kick specialist.

Eremenko has scored 12 goals in 30 games for Finland, including two goals in the qualifying campaign.

Poland is atop Group A with 20 points ahead of Finland with 18.

Helsinki

Helsinki (in Finnish; listen (help·info)), or Helsingfors (in Swedish; listen (help·info)) is the capital and largest city of Finland. It is located in the southern part of Finland on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, by the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is 565,186 (30 April 2007)[1], making it the most populous municipality in Finland by a wide margin.

Helsinki is not only Finland's administrative center, but also the focal point of Finnish cultural life and business activity. There is a large and varied collection of museums, galleries and performance spaces in the city. Many major companies are headquartered in Helsinki.

Helsinki, along with the neighboring cities of Vantaa, Espoo and Kauniainen, constitutes what is known as the capital region, with over 1,000,000 inhabitants. The Greater Helsinki area contains several additional municipalities and has a population of 1,293,093.[1]

Names and etymology

The Swedish name Helsingfors is the original name of the city of Helsinki, and is still the official Swedish name for the city. The Finnish name, Helsinki (pronounced with the stress on the first syllable: ['helsiŋki]), has been dominant in other languages for decades. The Swedish name Helsingfors comes from the name of the surrounding parish, Helsinge (source for Finnish Helsinki) and the rapids (in Swedish: fors), which flowed through the original town. It is often thought that the name Helsinge was given by the Swedish immigrants who came from the Swedish province of Hälsingland [1].

In Helsinki slang the town is also called Stadi (from the Swedish word stad, meaning city) and Hesa in colloquial Finnish. Helsset is the North Sami name of Helsinki.

History

Main article: History of Helsinki

Founded in 1550 as a rival to the Hanseatic city of Reval (today: Tallinn) by King Gustav I of Sweden, the town of Helsinki struggled in its infancy. The fledgling settlement was plagued by poverty, wars, and diseases. For a long time it remained a small coastal town, overshadowed by the more thriving trade centers in the Baltic region. The construction of the Sveaborg (In Finnish Viapori, today also Suomenlinna) naval fortress helped improve its status, but it was not until Russia defeated Sweden in the Finnish War and annexed Finland as the autonomous Grand Duchy of Finland in 1809 that Helsinki began to develop into a major city.

In order to reduce Swedish influence in Finland, Czar Alexander I of Russia moved the capital from Turku, which had close ties to Sweden, to Helsinki. The Royal Academy of Turku, back then the only university in the country, was relocated to Helsinki in 1827 and eventually became the modern University of Helsinki. The move consolidated the city's new role, and the following decades saw unprecedented growth and development for the city, creating the prerequisites for the birth of the modern world class capital in the 20th century. This transformation is highly apparent in the downtown core, which was rebuilt in neoclassical style to resemble St. Petersburg. As elsewhere, technological advancements such as railroads and industrialization were a key factor behind the growth.

In the 1918 Finnish Civil War, Helsinki fell to the Red Guard on January 28th, the first day of the war. The Red side gained control of the whole of southern Finland after minor hostilities. The Senate was relocated to Vaasa, although some senators and officials remained in hiding in the capital. After the tide of war turned against the Red forces, German troops fighting on the side of the Finnish White Guard recaptured Helsinki in April 1918. Unlike Tampere, Helsinki suffered relatively little damage in the war. After the White victory many former Red soldiers and collaborators were confined in prison camps across the country. The largest camp, having approximately 13,300 prisoners, was located on the former naval fortress island of Suomenlinna in Helsinki. Although the civil war left a considerable scar on the society, the standard of living in the country and the city began to improve in the following decade. Renowned architects such as Eliel Saarinen created utopistic plans for Helsinki, but they were never realized to full extent.

In the aerial bombings of the Winter War (1939-40) and the Continuation War (1941-44) Helsinki was attacked by Soviet bombers. The most intense air raids took place in the spring of 1944, when over two thousand Soviet planes dropped some 16,000 bombs in and around the city. However, due to successful air defense the city was spared from the large-scale destruction that many other cities in Europe under bombings of similar scale suffered. Only a small number of bombs hit populated areas.

Despite the tumultous first half of the 20th century, Helsinki continued to develop steadily. The rapid urbanization of the 1970s, which occurred relatively late in the European context, tripled the population in the metropolitan area, making the Helsinki metropolitan area one of the fastest growing urban centers in the European Union in the 1990s. The relatively sparse population density of Helsinki and its peculiar structure have often been attributed to the lateness of the urbanisation. Today Helsinki is the second most sparsely populated European capital after Brussels.[2]

Economy

Kamppi Center is a shopping and transportation complex in the Kamppi district in the centre of Helsinki.

The Helsinki metropolitan area generates approximately one third of the Finnish GDP. GDP per capita is roughly 1.5 times the national average, making Helsinki one of wealthiest capitals in Europe. In 2004, the local economy grew by 3.2%.

Since the 1950s, the economy has become largely service-based, although industries such as shipbuilding continue to employ a substantial number of people. Large service-based employers include the public sector and the information technology sector.

The metropolitan area is the location of choice for the headquarters of large Finnish companies as well as the regional headquarters of international companies. This is primarily due to good transport infrastructure, both international and national as well as the availability of skilled labour.

Demographics

The population of Helsinki is 565,186. Finnish is the predominant language of the city, but there is a sizable Swedish speaking minority as well.

The city has Finland's largest immigrant population in both absolute and relative terms. There are people from over 130 nationalities resident in Helsinki. The largest groups are from Russia, Estonia, Sweden, Somalia, Serbia, China, Iraq and Germany.

Society

Helsinki is also known for being unique in the way that for a city its size there is no part of the town that could be deemed as "slum", or explicitly inhabited by the poor. However, there is a growing social inequality in the city and experts have recently warned about the dangers of increasing social problems, especially in certain eastern parts of Helsinki. Successful integration of foreign immigrants into the society, infrastructure development, production of public services and insufficient cooperation between the municipalities of Helsinki conurbation area are seen as major future challenges for the economic development of the region.

Rapidly growing in Finland is the trend (especially of the younger generation) to work for "placement agencies". Although there has been a massive surge of public companies going private in the last ten years, this trend seems to be fueled by the increased demand for more flexible work schedules as well as the freedom to work seasonally or sporadically. Due to the nature of these types of agencies as well as the types of work they provide, it is common for them to hire non-Finns.