The latest player profile on the club website is that of Mika Suonsyrjä, a 35-year old player with vast experience in the lower divisions of Finnish football. His highest level was with Sääksjärven Loiske several years ago in Kolmonen, the fourth division of Finnish football. He has celebrated promotion with four different teams, and if TamU-K is going to be his fifth one, it seems certain that Mika will play a big role in that. He adds experience and leadership to the team, and will even play an important role in coaching the team.

But the thing about all this is how and why Mika decided to join TamU-K. After seven years with FC Melody he was looking for new challenges:

”I wanted to play in a team where I had as much to give as possible, and I went to the Virelä training tournament with TamU-K without much forethought. During the half-time of the first match everybody agreed things were working out, so I signed a contract with TamU-K right then and there.”

And indeed, his personal story parallels that of TamU-K in that for both this spring is a new beginning:

”When I got home from Virelä, my wife said that my eyes were shining like they used to ten years ago. It is an incredible feeling to still have found something new and exciting. When I was looking down in concentration before the KaVo match, and then looked up and see a stand filled with flags, it was impossible to believe my eyes. In that match I got a dead leg at about 10 minutes into the match. I was down for a while and thought to myself, today I cannot get out of the match. I got back into the match biting the bullet, and when the crowd sang ”to the attack!” my legs started working again.”

Can I cry now?

As far as his role with TamU-K on the field, anything is possible, as Mika has played all positions during his career. And by all I really mean all, as at the peak of his career in Loiske he was a goalie. On the other hand, last season he was one of the top scorers for FC Melody when they got promoted from Kutonen to Vitonen. According to his own words, he started the season as a center back, then moved over to the wing, and even played a few matches at the striker position. In TamU-K his position seems to be at the bottom of the midfield, but even from this mostly defensive position he is expected to make runs into the box and score goals when the opportunity arises.

Due to his vast experience he is in a good position to evaluate the current team and their chances:

”I expect this to be a good season. The team has at least as good players as the Melody team that got promoted last season. The difference is that TamU-K has not had the same team playing together for many years like Melody has, so this project will start more slowly. We wont dominate matches early on in the season, but we have to scrape up points even with a worse performance. I may of course be wrong too, because we not only have talented players, but also everybody works hard on the field and really cares about the team.”

And he finishes by this: ”I can promise everybody who’ll come to see these matches that the team in blue shirts will never be lazy on the field, because I know that there’ll be at least one guy who plays hard and whose example will motivate the rest of the team if needed!”

Now this is exactly what a supporter wants to hear.