San Marino in the Helsinki freeze: clash with Finland in front of 5,000 fans

The San Marino National Team has just been introduced to the late-autumn temperatures of Helsinki. In the Finnish capital, where yesterday the local Under-21 side beat their Irish counterparts in the middle of heavy snowfall, the mercury will not rise above 2°C, at least for the duration of the Titana’s stay. At the Bolt Arena, the official training session under the orders of Roberto Cevoli and his staff – as they look for the best mechanisms to finish their first ever participation in League C of the UEFA Nations League on a positive note.

At the press conference, alongside the Head Coach was Lorenzo Capicchioni – the biancazzurri midfielder. “We want to make up for the match against Finland in September: every game is a new opportunity to try to improve, we always say that, and this one in particular because the first leg ended badly in terms of the result. That said, watching it back, the performance was not as poor as I had perceived from the bench at the time. Obviously we go out on the pitch every time with the ambition of doing better than the previous outing, giving everything to make that happen” – Cevoli assures. “Finland’s organisation of play is of a very high level, they make constant rotations within their tactical plan and – as is well known – they are a group of players who have been playing together for some time now, they know each other very well and find each other on the pitch with ease. On top of that, they have some standout individuals, such as Walta who caused us all sorts of problems in Serravalle, showing great quality.”

“They are the opponents who have put us in the greatest difficulty in this group,” recalls Lorenzo Capicchioni. “They are extremely good at interchanging positions, especially in midfield. We will need to be sharp not only in reading this tactical development, but also in communicating effectively with one another, talking a lot on the pitch and organising ourselves as best we can to cover their passing lanes.” The key identified by the Tropical Coriano midfielder is to push the pressing line higher: “Since they like to rotate so much, going to press them high could be an excellent way to put them under pressure. If we allow them to build up play with relative calm, we risk being caught out by their constant movement and changes of position. Instead, by pressing them in an advanced area of the pitch, we can catch them unprepared and significantly reduce the space available to them.”

Around 5,000 spectators are expected at the Bolt Arena in Helsinki for tomorrow’s match (18:00 CET, in Italy and San Marino). At the moment no snow is forecast, even though no more than twenty-four hours ago it was falling in large quantities over Helsinki. “The weather factor has to be taken into account, it is our first match of the year in these temperatures and we will have to get used to them quickly. This evening’s training session allowed us to test the conditions we will find again tomorrow and I hope we won’t suffer from them too much. It will be a good incentive to run even more,” the Head Coach concludes with a smile. “It can be a factor – admits Capicchioni – but it won’t have an impact. We will overcome the cold and give our all, as in every other match.”