Rangers star Glen Kamara’s hopes of playing in Euro 2020 suffered a setback on Saturday evening, as Finland were on the wrong end of a hammering in Qualifying Group J.
The Finns have been in an excellent vein of form recently and had previously only lost to Italy in qualifying. Wins over Lichtenstein, Armenia, Greece and in the home tie against tonight’s opposition had them sitting pretty in second spot with 12 points from six fixtures.
Kamara had been instrumental to those wins, earning major praise for his performance against Bosnia and Herzegovina, in June, in particular.
However, they were well beaten in Zenica, despite their opponents being without their skipper and record all-time goalscorer, Edin Dzeko.
The hosts were 2-0 up at half-time courtesy of a strike from Izet Hajrovic and a penalty from Juventus star, Miralem Pjanic.
There was to be no rally from the visitors, after the break, either.
Instead, Bosnia-Herzegovina pulled further ahead, with Pjanic netting his second after 58 minutes before attacker Armin Hodzic rubbed salt into the wounds with a fourth.
Finland’s Joel Pohjanpalo netted a consolation with ten minutes remaining, but they were never really in the contest, mustering just two shots on target [BBC Sport].
It’s a blow for Kamara and co. with the result making the group a lot more interesting. Their fate is still in their own hands, but the pressure has now been ramped up ahead of the final three fixtures, with a trip to Greece the sternest test still to come.
There’s a chance to bounce back straight away, though, with Armenia travelling to Turku on Tuesday evening.
