Summer Blues for Oulu as they prepare for Veikkausliiga challenge

WITH just four games of the season left, a number of Premier League clubs – including Hull City, Wigan, West Ham and Burnley – are anxiously battling against relegation to English football’s second tier.

Almost a world away, both in terms of distance and money, AC Oulu are too hoping to stay in the top division of Finnish football, the Veikkausliiga. The only difference is, their season is yet to start!

Finland’s domestic season runs over the summer, so isn’t scheduled to begin until later this month, but Oulu are already bracing themselves for a bitter battle against relegation after winning promotion from Ykkönen last season.

They open up their season with a tough trip to MyPa 1947 Anjalankoski – but, captain Antti Pehkonen admits, they are ready to forget last season’s heroics and focus their efforts on staying in the top division.

[youtube:http://youtube.com/watch?v=Q9kgqoHQHSc] The clubs – and players – who will make up this year’s Veikkausliiga.
But who will be there at the end of the season?

“We can be very happy because the training period was very successful,” he said.

“Players were already familiar with each other from previous periods, so we have all the time to hone your style better and better. Our League Cup results were good, but the most important thing is how the game is played.

“It is also important that we have avoided major injuries, except Tommi Kauppista.”

Losing Kauppista for the start of the season is a blow, but Pehkonen still believes his side are better equipped to deal with the pressures the Veikkausliiga will bring – having experienced a season there three seasons ago.

“First, we have a much more balanced team,” he says.

“All are now familiar with each other quite a different way than it was then, and the team is clearly united. We can go very confident.”

And, of course, his own personal experiences should boost Oulu’s chances of staying up.

FC Oulu’s players celebrate a goal – will there be similar cheer this season?

“I am fully ready,” he insisted. “The most important thing is that whatever happens or takes place, this is your story – you must believe in the end.”

VPS, boasting the services of American stars Greg Eckhardt and Brian Pope, should have enough about them to beat the drop – even though both players will miss the start of the season through injury.

“I pulled my hamstring about two weeks ago,” Eckhardt recently said. “I’ll be out for another couple of weeks- so I will be missing the opener. The injury is disappointing, but I am excited to get back out and start playing again.”

Pope’s diagnosis, however, is somewhat less positive. The goalkeeper is poised to miss a large portion of his second season in Finland, after suffering an injured shoulder which recently required surgery.

“His injury is more long term,” Eckhardt admitted. “I am not sure the exact length, but it sounds like more than a couple of months.”

As well as Eckhardt and Pope, VPS’s newly-appointed coach Tommy Pikkarainen will be able to call upon nine new faces in his squad. Key to their hopes of avoiding a relegation battle will be bedding these new players into the squad together, whilst also concentrating on results.

Jyväskylän Jalkapalloklubi regained their top-flight status last season after winning a relegation play-off – surviving at the expense of Kokkolan Palloveikot, the team who finished second in the second tier. Last season, JJK’s problems were simple – they couldn’t score enough goals.

After failing to boost their numbers with any significant firepower in the close season, JJK could again find this season a struggle. The deep, poignant words uttered by Oulu skipper Pehkonen, about believing until the end, may yet prove to be particularly applicable to their plight.