Haarala handed Finland call
Thursday, January 27, 2005
Article summary
SC Heerenveen defender Hannu Haarala has been rewarded for his fine form with a first call-up by Finland.
Article body
Forssell absent
Coach Antti Muurinen has named the 23-year-old right-back in his 26-man squad for the Cyprus international tournament next month. The only notable absentee from a strong selection is injured Chelsea FC striker Mikael Forssell. Finland will play Latvia on 8 February and then either Cyprus or Austria the following day.
Czech challenge
The competition will be welcome preparation for Finland ahead of the resumption of their 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying programme. The Finns are fourth in Group 1 but just one point off top spot with nine points from five games. Their next qualifier sees them travel to the Czech Republic on 26 March.
Finland squad
A Niemi (Southampton FC), Jääskeläinen (Bolton Wanderers FC), Nurmela (1. FC Kaiserslautern, Kuivasto (Djurgårdens IF), Pasanen (Werder Bremen), Kallio (Molde FK), Haarala (SC Heerenveen), Tihinen (RSC Anderlecht), Hyypiä (Liverpool FC), Riihilahti (Crystal Palace FC), Tainio (AJ Auxerre), Kolkka (Crystal Palace FC), Eremenko (US Lecce), Johansson(Charlton Athletic FC), Kuqi (Ipswich Town FC), Lagerblom (1. FC Nürnberg), Litmanen (no club), Kopteff (Viking FK), Väyrynen (SC Heerenveen), Hietanen (Tromsø IL), Pohja (FC Vaduz), Heikkinen (Aberdeen FC), J Niemi (K. Sint-Truidense VV), Roiha (Cercle Brugge KSV), Kaven (Tampere United), Pasoja (FC Haka).