It felt like a huge blow to Carsley’s chances of succeeding Gareth Southgate on a full-time basis after his audition had begun well with consecutive comfortable wins last month, as well as a setback to England’s hopes of gaining promotion back to the top tier of the Nations League as they now trail unbeaten Greece by three points in Group B2.
It has been a dreadful Nations League showing from the Finns so far, with Markku Kanerva’s side currently sitting rock bottom of the group with zero points to their name after three consecutive losses.
After away defeats to Greece and England, Finland blew an early lead at home to the Republic of Ireland on Thursday to lose 2-1 courtesy of Robbie Brady’s late effort that handed Heimir Hallgrimsson his first victory in charge. They have scored only once and shipped seven goals in this campaign so far.
Date, kick-off time and venue
Finland vs England is scheduled for a 5pm BST kick-off on Sunday October 13, 2024.
The match will take place at the Helsinki Olympic Stadium.
Where to watch Finland vs England
TV channel: The game will be televised live and free-to-air on ITV1 in the UK, with coverage getting underway at 4:15pm.
Live stream: Fans can also catch the contest live and for free online via the ITVX app and website.
Live blog: You can follow all the action on matchday via Standard Sport’s live blog.
Finland vs England team news
Even if Kane isn’t quite ready to start and take the captain’s armband back from John Stones, then one of Ollie Watkins or Dominic Solanke can expect to feature from the off in Helsinki as the interim boss returns to a more tried-and-trusted system featuring a conventional centre-forward.
Return: England will have captain Harry Kane fit to play against Finland
AFP via Getty Images
The likes of Kyle Walker, Marc Guehi, Conor Gallagher and Angel Gomes are also candidates to come into a far more balanced team, but Bukayo Saka and Curtis Jones have both now withdrawn from the squad.
Saka was injured in the second half against Greece and has now returned to Arsenal, while Liverpool’s Jones has withdrawn due to personal reasons after being added to the squad late last week along with Tino Livramento.
Ezri Konsa, Kobbie Mainoo and Morgan Gibbs-White all withdrew from the group injured early in the week.
Sparta Prague midfielder Kaan Kairinen is absent for Finland, while Norwich legend Teemu Pukki could return up front.
Finland vs England prediction
Thursday was an absolute horror show from England and Carsley, who may well have cost himself a chance at succeeding Southgate with a needless, doomed experiment on the pitch and confused answers off it that led many to wonder if he even wants the permanent job or is just waiting to hand over the reins and resume his post as Under-21 coach.
While he may be commended for trying something different and attempting to foster a fresh attacking approach featuring England’s best players after all the complaints about Southgate’s dull if effective conservatism, it was true Football Manager or Fantasy Football stuff at Wembley that displayed a real naivety and left the team horribly unbalanced.
England were lucky to have avoided a much heavier defeat after impressive Greece took full advantage of the chaos on an emotional night that followed the death of George Baldock, with the visitors having the ball in the net no fewer than five times – and it would have been six but for Levi Colwill’s stunning goal-line heroics.
Experiment over: Lee Carsley will surely return to a more conventional formation in Helsinki
AP
Ironically Finland would probably have been much better opponents against which to trial such a bold system given their hopeless form of late, but we can surely expect a far more familiar England display on Sunday, particularly if Kane is fit to lead the line once more.
It might be tame, but back in a more balanced and sensible formation, expect the visitors to dominate proceedings and wrap up a comfortable victory to put the disappointment of Thursday behind them.
Anything other than a win this weekend would surely sound the definitive end of Carsley’s job chances and indeed England’s hopes of usurping Greece at the top of the group with only two games left to go – including a tough trip to Athens next month.
Head to head (h2h) history and results
England’s 2-0 win at Wembley last month was their first meeting with Finland since 2001. The Three Lions have dominated this fixture in the past and never previously lost to the Finns in 12 matches, only dropping points in World Cup qualifiers in 1985 and 2000 – with both games in Finland.
Finland vs England match odds
Odds via Betfair (subject to change).
