Whose name will be on the cup this year?
This season's Suomen cup reaches it's climax this weekend with the match between Honka of Espoo and KuPS of Kuopio. Both teams have tasted recent defeat in finals, and have a chance to write their names in the history books. KuPS have won the Suomen Cup twice in their history, most recently in 1989; yet Honka have never won the trophy.
The clash between eighth and tenth place in the league this weekend represents their only chances of playing continental football - KuPS reaching last year's final provided them with this season's surprising run to the third qualifying round of the Europa League.
For Honka, this has been a wait of four months since their penalty shootout win over holders HJK at the end of many. They were runners-up in 2007 and 2008, losing on penalties to Tampere (07) and after extra-time to HJK (08), are they due some success? As the higher-placed team in the league, they may think that they are the slight favourite, and at the time of writing, they are with the UK based bookmakers.
Honka after their semi-final win
But will they be able to pull it off? KuPS have been poor domestically this season, yet seem to be able to win one-off games, including Turkish side Bursaspor in Europe. Despite losing the final last year to the 'home' team, they've returned again, and despite their slight underdog status, they're no pushover. Unfortunately they spent midweek getting used to the Sonera turf losing 4-1 to HJK... Maybe they're lulling Honka into a false sense of security?
KuPS in their 1-0 win over Bursaspor - this is their chance for a repeat
This is a big game for both sides, and a chance for silverware and a €25,000 payday (plus the associated money for competing in Europe in 2013). Glory is within touching distance, and next season we could be using a photo such as this...
2011 champions HJK
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