The Kutonen season continues on Saturday afternoon with a match against Pispalan Ponnistus, or PiPo-79 for short. This is our home opener, and as such an important match. Moreover, PiPo being a team that got relegated from Vitonen at the end of last season, they are one of the favorites in our subdivision this year. Given that a week from now we will meet Pelikassit, which is another team that is projected to be a promotion contender this season, it is crucial to get points tomorrow. And of course the supporters are thirsty for the club’s first win in an official match.

Quite frankly I do not have a lot of information on PiPo. I know that they have been playing in the bottom divisions for years now, and mostly higher than at the very bottom in Kutonen if I’ve understood correctly. In early 2000s they played a few seasons in Nelonen (fifth division), but the last couple seasons were spent in Vitonen (sixth division). Last season their record shows 2 wins, 2 ties, and 16 losses. Most significantly they gave up a lot of goals, altogether 105 in 20 matches. Ouch! This is what gets you relegated. In 2010, also in Vitonen, they gave up 75 goals in 22 matches. These are large numbers, and even if Vitonen is a level above Kutonen, this makes me expect a lot of chances for us to score goals tomorrow. Last week they lost their season opener against Pelikassit. The final score was 2-3.

Last weekend against TaPa TamU-K had a lot of defensive players unavailable due to injuries, but the situation seems to be getting better. It is expected that Henri Rantama will be available tomorrow, and even Viljami Ahola’s ankle injury might allow him to play. However, Antti Kääriäinen (toe) is still out this week, and so is Jura Tapiainen (back). Additionally Martti Pelttari and Juha Pietilä are unavailable due to personal reasons.

In the offensive end Youcef Chemlal suffered an ankle injury in the match against TaPa, and is definitely out. However, the injury turned out not to be as bad as it seemed at first, and he is expected to make his return in June. This is excellent news in the long term. In the short term players like Isaac Gbehan, Tomi Lahtinen, and Adnan Omerovic will need to step up big time.

To ease the injury situation, TamU-K has also added a couple new players into the roster. These are Alaa Adeeb (fullback) and Nawar Karikuss (midfield). Both have been training with the team for a while now, and impressed the manager in the training match against LaPro on the eve of the competitive season. Adeeb is said to play well with both feet, whereas Karikuss is expected to add an aerial threat into the TamU-K offense. It will be very interesting to see how and how much the manager will use these players tomorrow.

The match kicks off in Kaukajärvi at 3:30 pm. Supporters will meet in Pub Kivitasku (Isolammenkatu 2) at 2 pm.