10-men Finland lose to Wales

An early red card by referee forced the Finns to play their last group match against Wales with 10 players in the UEFA Nations League which helped the host to win the Group B4 match in Cardiff late Wednesday night.

The referee sent Jere Uronen out of the game at the 12th minute showing a red card for a simple foul, when he tried to tackle Harry Wilson, resulting in the Finns playing the rest of the match with one man down.

Although the 10-men Finns tried to save the match with collective efforts, Wilson scored at 29th minute and took lead for the host.

Daniel James scored the second goal for Wales at the beginning of second half to make the gap wider.

Finland tried to come back when Teemu Pukki scored a goal at the 63th minute but Kieffer Moore ensured the 3-1 victory for Wales by scoring a goal at the 84th minute.

“The best team in the group beat us on their home ground with one-man advantage, but they were not clear winners. I am proud of the guys. The red card was of course a turning point in the match. Still, we did what we could, we had chances and fought well,” Finnish goalkeeper Lukas Hradecky told NENT Group.

Markku Kanerva, Finland’s head coach, speaking to NENT Group, said “We created more chances with one man down than we did in our home match [against Wales]. I am proud of the fighting spirit the team showed. It would have been nice to see what this match would have been like with 11 vs. 11. All in all, I think we have taken steps forward this year and it will be good to continue to our next challenges from here.”