The Finland national squad announced for the upcoming triple-header of games has brought with it a couple of surprises. Marcus Forss gets his first senior call-up after smashing 6 in 12 games for championship side Brentford. Robin Lod also finds himself back in Europe after finding his feet in the MLS with Minnesota United, who’s 9 goal return is the most in any season since his time with Klubi -04, Anssi Jaakkola also returns from injury, though there is no spot for Veikkausliiga top scorer Roope Riski.

Before returning to Nations League action, Finland travel to Paris on Wednesday night to complete the re-arranged friendly with the current world champions France, and the Finnish Football Show is standing by with their expectations and predictions.

Mark @fcsuomi – I’m not looking forward to this one at all. The game in Poland last week was (Niskanen’s goal aside) a nightmare, we knew already Poland’s B-team was better than ours and taking a pumping for that seemed like a waste of time. France’s B-team is also better than our B-team and I don’t see Rive playing first choice players with crucial games against Bulgaria and Wales coming up. I predict, few starts, five at the back and probably a 3-0 defeat for the Huuhkajat.

Keke @kekemyllari – While I would have enjoyed travelling to Paris to cheer on the Huuhkajat if we weren’t all still stuck in lockdown 2. I cannot see beyond another schooling for the Finland team. Surely Rive won’t go with a full strength side with important Nations League games in the next few days. It could be a similar experience to the Poland game, watching from behind the sofa. That said it will be nice to see if Forss gets some senior minutes. My head says 3-0, my heart says 0-0!

Rich @escapetosuomi – This seems like a wholly unnecessary match, shoehorned into an already packed schedule to satisfy TV and probably a handshake behind the scenes of the mutual kit manufacturers. Away to the World Champions before bigger tests seems a hiding to nothing and France putting seven past Ukraine last month shows their strength. Another chastening experience for the fringe players.

Mark @explorefinland – Being an AFC Wimbledon fan, I’ve been keeping an eye on Marcus Forss since he lit up League 1 in England in 2019. After recovering from a season-shortening injury in 2019-20, he has played his way into the Brentford team and scored his way to becoming a regular. It might be expecting too much for him to feature against France, but an appearance during the coming week would be nice. A forward line where you could perm any three from Pukki, Soiri, Forss, Taylor, Niskanen, Pohjanpallo, bodes very well for the future.

FFS Verdict: Sucré Bluè.