Spain v Finland, World Cup qualifier

Next week sees Finland's biggest test under Mixu Paatelainen, and perhaps their biggest game for many years. Facing the World and European champions in their own backyard (well, Gijon) is about as tough as it gets for any international side, let alone Finland.

The hosts won their first two games in qualifying group I, before dropping points at home to France in Madrid (a 94th minute goal by Olivier Giroud). The Finns however have only one point so far, a home defeat to the French and a disappointing 1-1 draw against Georgia, which saw Alexei Eremenko Jr sent off for two yellow cards. Finland's squad will then go on to face Luxembourg the following Tuesday.

2010 winners Spain are up next

Finland are taking a strong squad to Spain, the biggest absentee is the suspended Eremenko. Some young players will be benefitting from the experience, including Fulham's young goalkeeper Jesse Joronen, young HJK pair Rasmus Schüller and Mikko Sumusalo, Bursaspor's Petteri Forsell and Jarkko Hurme of TPS.

Spain's squad is announced to be announced on Friday (15th). They're unbeaten since a 2011 defeat to England in a friendly at Wembley. Spain are likely to be without captain Iker Casillas (hand injury), while Xavi and David Villa have recently been injured (but are likely to be involved). Their last match was a 3-1 friendly win over South American champions Uruguay.

Friendly international in 2007

Previous meetings between the two sides have been rare, the last fixture was a friendly in Helsinki in 2007, which ended 0-0. Prior to that, two non-competitive matches in 1994 were both won by Spain. The last competitive (and first of any) fixtures were in qualification for the 1970 World Cup, where Finland won the Helsinki match 2-0, but lost 6-0 in La Línea. Neither country qualified for that tournament, Belgium winning the pre-tournament group.

Highlights of Spain 6-0 Finland in 1969

Finland's recent international record is patchy. Not including the technically unofficial King's Cup, the Finns have lost to Israel, beaten Cyprus away and drawn with Georgia. Spain will be a huge test, and at the time of writing, Finland are 25/1 against to win the match and even a draw is 10/1. The Spanish are currently ranked number 1 by FIFA, Finland are 85th.

Most Finnish supporters accept that a group with Spain and France is so steep it's vertical, and that qualifying for the expanded Euro 2016 is slightly more realistic. But a chance to play against Spain will be an experience at least, and hopefully something the players and staff can learn from.

For Finns (and Spaniards) in the UK, ESPN are showing the match live on Friday 22nd March at 1945 GMT.

 Could Mixu pull off a surprise?

The full Finland squad to face Spain: 
Lukas Hradecky, Niki Mäenpää, Jesse Joronen; Joona Toivio, Niklas Moisander, Jukka Raitala, Jarkko Hurme, Markus Halsti, Paulus Arajuuri; Tim Sparv, Roman Eremenko, Mikko Sumusalo, Kari Arkivuo, Rasmus Schüller, Alexander Ring, Toni Kolehmainen, Perparim Hetemaj, Teemu Pukki, Petteri Forsell, Kasper Hämäläinen, Teemu Tainio; Mikael Forssell, Njazi Kuqi, Riku Riski.

The Spain squad to face Finland:

Victor Valdés, Pepé Reina, David de Gea; Álvaro Arbeloa, Raúl Albiol, Sergio Ramos, César Azpilicueta, Gerard Piqué, Nacho Monreal, Jordi Alba; Xabi Alonso, Xavi Hernández, Andrés Iniesta, Cesc Fábregas, Sergio Busquets, Santi Cazorla, Javi García, Isco; David Villa, David Silva, Pedro, Juan Mata, Álvaro Negredo, Jesús Navas

The 2013 Liigacup story so far...

It's taken just under two months, but the group stage of the 2013 Liigacup is now at the quarter final stage. The schedule has conplimented the pre-season schedule for the twelve clubs involved, some have travelled far and wide in-between. Time for a quick re-cap of what we've seen so far.

2012 winners TPS have started strongly

Group 1

On paper the strongest group, with three of 2012's top five teams - but it was runners-up FC Inter who surprised everyone, picking up just one point from their six matches. Admittedly Inter were without top scorer Irakli Sirbiladze due to injury, but they conceded 15 goals, and finished bottom. 2012 winners TPS finished top, unbeaten in their games. They go through with Lahti (2nd) and JJK (3rd), who didn't pull up any trees but improved towards the closing stages of the round. Lahti only scored four goals in six games so will need to improve quickly.

Group 2

Champions HJK looked like winning this group at a canter, winning their first four matches at an aggregate at 13-0. But MYPA shocked everyone by beating them 1-0, and only finished two points behind in the end. Last year's 4th placed IFK Mariehamn lost all six matches, and conceded 10 goals against HJK. Suomen Cup holders Honka didn't do enough to earn a 'best 3rd placed' spot, with their two wins against IFK and a draw with MYPA all they achieved.

Group 3

The closest group of the three, and won by the newly promoted RoPS. VPS finished bottom and exited early, despite a final day win over RoPS, as KuPS finished second (level on 10 points with RoPS, but with an inferior head to head record). Jaro finished third despite a strong start, and made it through ahead of Honka. KuPS scored 14 goals in their six matches, only HJK scored more (19). KuPS managed to go between excellent and awful and back, so on their day will be a threat. RoPS have bought well, but Jaro's five goals in six is unlikely to put much fear into their next opponent.

So the quarter-finals, here is the schedule:

TPS v Jaro (Saturday 9th March, kick-off 1330 GMT)

HJK v JJK (Saturday 9th March, kick-off 1230 GMT)

RoPS v FC Lahti (Sunday 10th March, kick-off 1500 GMT)

MYPA v KuPS (Saturday 9th March, kick-off 1200 GMT)

The semi-finals will be (schedule TBC):

TPS or Jaro v HJK or JJK

RoPS or Lahti v MYPA or KuPS

The prize for this year's winner