Trio to miss Finland friendly

Sami Hyypiä, Jari Litmanen and Joonas Kolkka have all been left out of Finland's squad to play Korean Republic in Spain on 20 March due to UEFA Champions League commitments.

Liverpool duo face Roma
Hyypiä and Litmanen will be in Liverpool FC's squad to face AS Roma the day before the meeting with the 2002 FIFA World Cup co-hosts, while Kolkka is involved in Panathinaikos FC's Wednesday fixture with Real Madrid CF.

'I did not even try'
Finnish national coach Antti Muurinen explained "I did not even try to get them released" as he announced his 18-man party for the friendly, part of the Finns' build-up for the EURO 2004™ qualifiers, which they begin on 7 September against Wales, before facing Italy, Yugoslavia and Azerbaijan.

Heerenveen player wins call-up
Muurinen's squad still contains seven British-based players, as well as new call-up Mika Väyrynen, who recently joined Dutch club SC Heerenveen from Helsinki's FC Jokerit, linking up with international team-mate Mika Nurmela.

Finland squad
Enckelman, Jääskeläinen, Kuivasto, Nuorela, Reini, Saarinen, Tihinen, Ylönen, Heikkinen, Niemi, Nurmela, Valakari, Väyrynen, Wiss, Forssell, Johansson, Kuqi, Pohja.