Saturday was a nearly perfect day for Tampere United supporters. At long last the competitive season started, the team took care of business on the field, and the benefit at Vastavirta-klubi in the evening was sold out. A successful day all around.

That said, the first half of the Finnish Regions’ Cup match against Viialan Peli-Veikot (ViiPV) was not at all what the coaches and supporters wanted to see. Slow tempo, bad touches and passes, mistakes, and even a missed penalty by Joonas Kupiainen. And finally just a few minutes before the half-time whistle the nightmare: a lost ball in the midfield results in ViiPV forward Jukka Saari getting passed through for a one-on-one against Ilkka Innola and an easy goal.

The second half was much better, and for me that had a lot to do with Ahmed Lakra and Jesse Kupiainen, who were subbed in at the half. In the continued absence of Anssi Saiha (knee), the younger Kupiainen is quickly taking his intended role as a creative midfielder. He is able to hold the ball in tight spaces and always seems to make good forward-minded choices in his passing. And of course Ahmed is always Ahmed: invariably entertaining, but also rarely makes a defensive mistake and adds a lot to our offense from his left back position.

The all-important equalizer was scored by Jacin Dakkaki, who thereby proved that the ketchup bottle is staying firmly open. It was one of those corners that is followed by a bit of a scramble, and then you realize the ball is in the net. Apparently Vesa Suonsyrä got the last touch before Dakkaki put the ball into the net just five yards from the goal. The goal was scored less than 15 minutes into the half, and everybody expected a second goal in the remaining half-hour.

That was not to be, however. TamU-K kept pressing on and ViiPV started to get tired, but about a half dozen more corners were all that the team in blue would get. When the full time whistle blew, the atmosphere among the supporters was a combination of being optimistic and worried. It was clear that the team had the needed goal in them. But would we be able to get it out of them? The idea of going to penalties was obviously not at all appealing. And of course all might be ruined by just one mistake. The tension was palpable.

In the end the winning goal was created by three players who were not included n the starting lineup. Ahmed Lakra won the ball in the defensive end of the field, passed the ball up to Mohammed El-Harrak on the left wing, who let Nawar Karikuss loose with just one touch. With only the keeper to beat, Karikuss chipped the ball into the net with a simple and beautiful touch. This to me is the beauty and magic of football. Karikuss must have been the last guy to make the roster for this match. Indeed, he had only played in three of our eleven matches in the winter, and some might have already started to question his role in the team. And here he is: match hero!

A good while after the match I had my first beer at Vastavirta-klubi while the bands were doing their sound check. I ended up sitting alone on the deck, the sun was setting, and the world seemed extremely beautiful.

Despite the ultimate victory, the performance of the team was far from what can be expected. A bad first half meant that grinding out the win was much more difficult than it needed to be. Extra time definitely was not in the plans at all. For a supporter of course all the adversity made the ultimate victory all the more sweeter, but at the same time it is clear that many matches in Vitonen this season will be as difficult as this one if our own effort is not our 100 %. And even if it is, we are likely going to have to turn many tight matches into victories.

A win is a win though, and with that the start of the season has a very positive tone. Next up we have the Vitonen opener against Lammin Veto on Sunday. The match kicks off at Pyynikki Stadium at 4:00 pm. For the supporters this Regions’ Cup fixture was just a warm-up, because matches in Vitonen are the real deal that determine whether this season will be successful. The club too is expecting the match on Sunday to be a much bigger event. Let’s make it so!

TamU-K – ViiPV 2-1 (1-1)
6 min, Joonas Kupiainen, missed penalty
42 min 0-1 Joni Ranta
58 min 1-1 Jacin Dakkaki
112 min 2-1 Nawar Karikuss

Discipline:
27 min, Timo Kauppinen, TamU-K (caution)
67 min, Ilkka Jussila, ViiPV (caution)
68 min, Joonas Kupiainen, TamU-K (caution)
80 min, Alaa Adeeb, TamU-K (caution)
100 min, Juha Kumara, TamU-K (caution)
119 min, Jukka Saari, ViiPV (caution)