Finns say they're underdogs as momentum swings Ireland's way

Finland's interim boss Marko Saloranta believes the Republic of Ireland's impressive improvement makes them favourites ahead of tomorrow night's crunch World Cup qualifier at Tallaght Stadium.

The Finns are the group's second seeds and, after the draw was made in April 2021, were fancied to take second place behind the imperious Swedes.

But Ireland have thrown a real spanner in the works.

Vera Pauw's charges went to Helsinki last October and plundered a 2-1 win. Since then, they've continued to flourish while Finland have levelled out.

They lost all three of their group games at the Euros and then parted company with manager Anna Signeul in the aftermath, with Finnish FA President Ari Lahti saying "it was a good time to prepare for the future and set a new direction".

So Under-17s manager Saloranta took temporary charge for their remaining qualifiers against Ireland and Sweden.

The shift in momentum is evident in the latest world rankings: Ireland (27th) are now two places higher than Finland (29th).

"Ireland is higher than we are in the FIFA rankings at the moment, and in this group they are higher than we are," Saloranta said on the Wednesday evening.

"Okay, one point only, and we lost back home in October, but still, I think it will be quite an even game. We had our chances, we just need to improve some things that were missing in the first game in Finland.

"I've been in the job four weeks. I was Under-17s coach still four weeks ago, and now we have trained three times together here. There are many things that we want to improve, but of course, everyone who is part of football knows that in three sessions, there's not many things (you can) do.

"Still, I feel we have improved in some points what we wanted. Of course, for the