It has not felt this good to be a Tampere United supporter in years. Today was simply put a perfect day. Not only did the team win the crucial match against Pelikassit 2-0 after a near perfect performance, but everything happening off the field matched the on-field performance too. Sinikaarti was on fire, but they were outnumbered by other Tampere United fans that had come to see the match. The sun was shining, the football was great, the singing was loud, the celebratory smoke was thick, the sausages were tasty, the coffee was refreshing, and everybody was having a great time. The attendance was announced at 106.

The three points gained today mean that the race for the number one spot in the table and direct promotion is not yet over. TamU-K is left hoping that Pelikassit will drop at least six more points, and the boys from Siivikkala must now feel the pressure, especially as the gap is now just two points because Pelikassit has a game in hand. We feel the pressure too of course, because we do need to win all our matches to keep this race going. However, I think that works very well for us. We cannot afford to take our foot of the pedal anyway, because we need to make sure Vire cannot catch us, and that we will go ”hot” into the promotion playoffs if that is our fate this season.

But the match today, well, words cannot do it justice. It was a very physical battle, and that was indeed the area where we had lost our previous encounter with Pelikassit. Now there was no such thing. Our starting lineup included most of our physically dominant players, and right from the starting whistle they let Pelikassit know who were the bosses on the field today. I was especially delighted to see Mika ”Grant Remote” Suonsyrjä back at the bottom of the midfield where he started the season before he was dropped to the defensive line. For me this position is where Mika is best able to exert his physical dominance and show his example to the rest of the team. It is just a pleasure to watch. This move was enabled by having the new signing Sami Kriikkula take over the center back position. He was absolutely dominant too, by the way, especially in the air.

Where we really won the match was the midfield though. In addition to Suonsryjä, Lauri Heittola and Tomi Lahtinen made sure that Pelikassit were unable to mount any controlled attacks. According to reports Pelikassit have played the whole season with Tommi Merto as their lone striker, and that was the case today as well. Throughout the season he has scored about 20 goals, but today he was not able to get the ball at all. Their midfield was not able to construct anything organized, and our defense was able to clear almost all long balls that they put forward. Kriikkula’s head must have stopped at least a dozen such balls.

But in the end what decided the match was amazing individual skill. By the time the match entered the 70th minute at 0-0 many started to wonder if there’d be any goals at all. TamU had had several chances, but despite a few great efforts by Isaac Gbehan, Heikki Wilen, and others, it started to seem like the deadlock might remain until the end. But then a couple minutes later: BOOM! Jose Chemlal got the ball at about 35 meters from goal, saw that the keeper was a bit out of his line, and decided to go for it. The ball ended up hitting the cross bar and the left post before going in. The boys in blue were soon in a pile near the center circle and Sinikaarti was going absolutely berserk.

At this point it seemed that the match was decided. Everybody in a Pelikassit shirt seemed like they were gassed out and had stopped believing in their chances to score a goal or even to get to a goal scoring chance. The confirmation came just five minutes later. Adnan Omerovic got the ball a few meters from the top of the box and used his amazing combination of strength and skill to move past two Pelikassit defenders between him and the goal, and then shot the ball past the keeper into the top of the net.

The rest of the match was just a formality. TamU subbed in some fresh legs to make sure that Pelikassit would have no chance. And they didn’t. Game over. As the final whistle blew, a few Pelikassit players collapsed on the ground. I’m sure that this was a tough result for them to handle. They had won all their matches so far, but now they finally met a team that was clearly better. They must have been physically and mentally exhausted. Hopefully that carries over to their future matches in a bad way. Rumors say some of their key players might be unavailable later in the fall, so there is still a reasonable chance that they will drop the points that we need them to drop.

The celebration between the team and the supporters at the end of the match summed up the day. It is a tradition that is the same all over the world, but not often done with the same intensity in the seventh tier division in any country, let alone Finland. This victory was immensely important for the team and supporters alike, and it was taken in a style that left no questions. Our club is a community, and today the community is the tightest it has ever been.

As a final special mention, our new goalie Ilkka Innola is simply amazing for this level. There are a few excellent goalies even in our subdivision in Kutonen, but I have not seen anything like Ila. Yes, he made a couple crucial saves today and was dominant in the air, but the real difference maker is that he is a vocal leader of the whole team, not just the defense. And to me it seems that his example has made many other players be more vocal as well. He simply makes everybody play better than they do without him, and it is amazing to see.

Next we have a break from matches for about two weeks, followed by matches against NePa Talent and NoPS 3 in rapid succession on Friday and Tuesday, respectively. These are our last matches in Kaukajärvi as the last three matches of the season will be played in Ikuri.

Scoring:
1-0 Youcef Chemlal, 73 min
2-0 Adnan Omerovic, 78 min

Discipline:
Mika Suonsyrjä, 20 min, TamU-K (caution)
Heikki Wilen, 22 min, TamU-K (caution)
Adnan Omerovic, 82 min, TamU-K (caution)