Puranen completes Finland passage

By Kevin Ashby at Perutz Stadium

Hungary's hopes of progressing through to the semi-finals of the UEFA European Women's Under-19 Championship were scuppered by a Finland side who did just that thanks to a second two-goal victory in Papa.

Laihanen opener
Finnish confidence was high following Wednesday's opening 4-2 defeat of Switzerland and they were rewarded for another enterprising start when Taru Laihanen scored the opening goal after 21 minutes. They then failed to capitalise on a number of presentable openings before Leena Puranen finally doubled the advantage in the 70th minute, meaning Finland play Germany for first place in Group A on Monday, when the hosts will hope to finish on a high against Switzerland.

Same team
Finland coach Jarmo Matikainen resisted selecting Linda Sällström from the start despite the 17-year-old coming off the bench to score a 29-minute hat-trick against the Swiss, instead retaining faith in the same XI which laid the foundations for that success. Laihanen - who had seen a close-range shot charged down inside two minutes - was a persistent threat and on the quarter-hour dispossessed Hungary left-back Monika Benkö only to be thwarted by Nikolett Szórádi's perfect sliding tackle just inside the area.

Trademark trickery
Six minutes later the winger was not to be denied, however, as she beat Bettina Horváth at her near post with a low drive after a cross from the left had prompted panic in the home defence. The introduction of the one Hungary player omitted from the 2-0 loss to Germany, Nikolett Fehér, temporarily saw home fortunes improve before Finland's Sonja Suosalo somehow failed to touch the ball into an open goal following trademark wing trickery from Essi Sainio.

Early arrival
If Hungary's unusually early return from the interval was designed to give them a psychological edge then it was a tactic which failed as Leena Puranen, Laihanen, Sainio and Suosalo all failed to finish promising Finnish forays. With a clinical edge needed, Matikainen sent on Sällström for Suosalo as the hour approached, and she was soon flashing a shot wide after powering on to Laihanen's through-ball.

Half-volley
The crucial second goal arrived with 20 minutes to go as the overworked Hungarian defence failed to deal with a deep cross from the right and Puranen had time to control the ball on her chest and unleash a powerful half-volley from ten metres. Fehér briefly roused the buoyant crowd with 15 minutes remaining but the Finns dominated the closing stages without ever finding the third goal their superiority merited.