As fun as it was to win three matches away, it is great to return home tomorrow. Our home matches at Pyynikki are the real deal. On those days you truly feel the might of our club and how everybody involved with it get to be a part of something bigger than you’d ever expect in the lower divisions in Finland. To condense it to just two words: home stadium. That is what Pyynikki is to us, and the buzz on match day confirms it.

On Saturday our opponent comes from Tervakoski, about 100 km south along the highway to Helsinki. The local club Pato played in Kolmonen last year, got relegated, and decided to bring a lot of their own youth players to the first team. The result has been a mediocre first half of the season: four wins, two draws and four losses after ten matches. This puts them eighth on the table, albeit only four points behind the third place team. Their results have shown that they are capable of winning as well as losing regardless of the opponent – which actually might make them the epitome of Nelonen this year. Also, just like LeKi last weekend, they are a team that has not conceded too many goals. Especially in the cozy confines of Pyynikki it means that we will probably have to work very hard to get the goals that we’ll need for the three points.

The biggest question mark for us ahead of the match is the absence of Jan Riikonen, who is taking some personal time off this weekend. Our record without him is one win and one loss. On the positive side, Andrea Milanti is available, and will more than likely take Riikonen’s spot on the wing. Regardless, we will see something new in the starting lineup given that Petri Vadén and Eero Riponiemi are still out with their injuries. The experiment with Timo Kauppinen pairing with Niko Saarinen did not really seem to work out too well last weekend, so things would seem to point to Juha Kumara starting in the midfield.

Perhaps the best piece of good news for the supporters ahead of this match is that we finally have an official home for the pre-match as well. Namely a bar called Brygga joined as a sponsor of the club, and their location just off Pyynikintori couple hundred meters from the stadium is quite ideal. They even offer nice deals on microbrews for club members. Could not be better than this! Brygga always opens at least two hours ahead of our matches. Tomorrow the kick off against Pato is at 4 pm, which means it will be a 2 pm start at the bar.

The day is completed by TamU-Kruise (sic!), a cruise on Lake Näsijärvi that starts at 7.30 pm. It is a bring-your-own-drinks kind of event, and our very own Vala plays acoustically on the boat. Will be a fun evening! Tickets are still available at the match for 20 euros each.

For TamU-K fans away from Tampere there will be a live stream at tamu-k.com/live as usual. The club believes that the problems that have plagued some of the previous broadcasts have been solved. Manu Haapalainen will be on the call with Antti Pettinen for those who understand Finnish. The rest of you can just soak in the atmosphere created by Sinikaarti and the rest of the crowd. For those of you in Seattle, it will be a 6 am kickoff your time.