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