Nokso-Koivisto's breakthrough joy

Finland winger Katri Nokso-Koivisto was delighted after making her UEFA WOMEN'S EURO 2009™ debut against Ukraine on Saturday, despite the hosts and Group A winners suffering a 1-0 defeat.

Long wait
The VfL Wolfsburg player was given her first outing of the tournament as coach Michael Käld rested a host of key players for his side's final Group A outing. And, even though Finland – already qualified as section winners – failed to clinch a third consecutive victory, there was little sign of regret from Nokso-Koivisto. "This is why all of us have played football for so long, something I have really waited for, so it was certainly great to be part of the action tonight," she told uefa.com. "I was not nervous before the game, I seldom am, but of course the big crowd made it a little bit different. We were not at our best, somehow the play did not flow as it usually does. Still, we had enough chances to win the game tonight too."

Wasted openings
Finland created numerous scoring opportunities in the match, with a couple of them falling to Nokso-Koivisto herself, yet the pacy wide player did not manage to find the net. "The first one was a header and I really should have scored," she said. "It was a great pass from Annica Sjölund, but I just could not direct the header at goal. It was a real pity. The other chance came a little bit by surprise. It was so quick I just shot and, sadly, it went past the goal."

'Another story'
Finland's next outing will be in Thursday's quarter-final in Turku, and Nokso-Koivisto dearly hopes she has done enough to convince trainer Käld she merits another start. She concluded: "I had chances today, but I didn't take them. Hopefully, it will be another story next time."