A quick glance at the Finland travelling squad for their UEFA Nations League clash against Ireland at the Aviva Stadium on Sunday and it is hard to look past a certain Daniel O'Shaughnessy.
Finnish born and bred; the 25-year-old defender has played for Finland at every level before making his senior debut in the squad that qualified for Euro 2020 last year.
Contacted back in 2012 to see whether he had any interest in playing for the country of his father’s birth, the 6ft 3in-defender decided to stay with the side he was currently representing and now he is part of the Finland squad to play in Dublin.
Finland, like Wales, are two sides in Ireland’s Nations League group who have already qualified for next summer’s rescheduled Euro 2020 tournament, having finished runners-up to Italy in Group J ahead of Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Armenia and Liechtenstein.
Markku Kanerva’s side reached the Euro 2020 tournament on the back of two things, their home form, primarily at the Tampere Stadium, and their striking sensation Teemu Pukki who starred for Norwich in the first half of the 2019-20 Premier League season.
Finland won four of their five home games in the group and were only narrowly beaten by Italy 2-1, while Pukki scored ten of their 16 goals in the campaign.
His ten-goal haul was by far the best in the group, six clear of his Italy’s top scorer Andrea Belotti.
Remarkably, however, Finland lost four matches and still qualified, as they were beaten twice by Italy and away in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Greece. The only points they picked up on the road were away wins in Armenia and Liechtenstein.
By contrast, Ireland only lost one game in their qualifying campaign, away to Switzerland, but their third-place finish meant that they missed out on an automatic qualifying spot.
While Ireland were playing away in Bulgaria on Thursday night, Finland hosted Wales in the other League B Group 4 game.
And the Scandinavian side started their campaign with a defeat, as one goal proved the difference in Wales’ favour.
Kieffer Moore grabbed the only goal of the game in Helsinki, although you might imagine that this Nations League campaign is just a mere distraction for this Finland side who are looking ahead to next summer as they make their debut at the European championships.
In truth, neither side covered themselves in glory in their campaign opener and Finland will surely be looking for an improved performance in Dublin.
While a well-organised unit, Finland struggled to create chances throughout the game and it was left to defender Leo Väisänen to get their best effort on goal as he hit the woodwork early in the second half.
As mentioned, all eyes will be on Pukki for this match and their talisman will be looking to get back on the scoresheet having drawn a blank against Ryan Giggs’ side.
Captain Tim Sparv is their main man in midfield, while Glen Kamara is another of their well-known midfielders, as he plies his trade in the Scottish top flight at Rangers.
The visitors will most likely line up in a 4-4-2 formation with Esberg’s Joni Kauko, who plays in the Danish league, and Ilmari Niskanen from Finnish side KuPS making up the midfield quartet.
Veteran keeper, Lukáš Hrádecký who plays for Bayer Leverkusen, is a reliable man between the posts and should start in Dublin, with Elfsborg centre-half Leo Väisänen and Juhani Ojala from Danish side Vejle sitting in front.
Full back Jere Uronen from Genk is another experienced international and should start at right back, while our man in Finland, O’Shaughnessy, will get a taste of what might have been his home stadium, playing on the left side of the defence.
And while Pukki is the man to watch up front, the Irish defence will need to pay attention to another of their Bundesliga players, Joel Pohjanpalo, who currently is on loan at Hamburg from Bayer Leverkusen.
The centre-forward is six foot plus, and will prove a handful, while offering a threat in the final third, especially if Ireland allow so much space in behind the defence as they did on Thursday in Bulgaria.
Coach Kanerva has already achieved national treasure status back home having guided his side to their first major championships and will not be judged on this Nations League campaign.
As a result, Finland will come with confidence and with the knowledge that little is expected of them, and that could allow the manager to experiment with players and styles, which could prove for an interesting evening, albeit without anyone there to look on.
Follow Republic of Ireland v Finland (KO 5pm) via our live blog on RTÉ.ie/sport and the RTÉ News app, or listen to commentary on RTÉ Radio 1's Sunday Sport.
