Lahti vs HIFK

Lahti welcome visitors from Helsinki for this Veikkauliiga clash at Lahden Stadion late Monday evening Beijing time. This is the highest level of my home country’s football. The stakes are high here – one could say especially for HIFK. They are currently the rock-bottom team in this league with a total of 12 teams. The team in the 12th place is relegated to Ykkönen for next season. HIFK have a pathetic seven points to their account and their goal difference is abysmal – 11:33! Lahti have been disappointing as well and have 13 points to their account and goal difference of 16:38. They both teams have hired a new coach this season already – but the level of their play has not improved too much. If HIFK lose today, they their situation gets very difficult with the (eventual) nine points difference to Lahti.

Let’s try to come up with something positive about HIFK – this is hard though.. The team recently hired one of the most famous, skilled (in his prime 6-10 years ago) and one of the most successful Finnish player Roman Eremenko. Eremenko,35, was born in the Soviet Union and is of Russian descent. He moved to Pietarsaari in western Finland with his family as a child. He played a long, successful career in Italy and especially in Russia. However, he told the media last week he was thinking of quitting his career earlier this summer but “spark” to play football is still there after all.. He trained with HIFK for about a month prior to his first match - for about two years - with HIFK just last week. His career took a big hit in 2016 when he was found guilty of using cocaine in a post-match doping test. He was banned from football for two years as a result. There has been quite a lot of media interest around him in Finland and some journalists seem to see him as a savior for HIFK. He is still a good player in Veikkausliiga, and the midfielder did give some nice passes in the first half against Inter but left the pitch after 64 minutes of play. He is still miles away from his best shape physically and is not nearly as fast as he was some 6-8 years ago. The betting market seems to think he will make a big difference for HIFK which of course affects the odds.. I have raised HIFK’s power rating since his arrival as well but not significantly. I think Eremenko will improve later on though but for now we must be realistic about his role in HIFK.

We must not forget how weak HIFK are by raw class despite having 3-4 good players, for example Hing-Glover who has been very good lately. They, however, have now lost their most important player Beto. The legendary Portuguese goalkeeper had enough of the misery in HIFK and left a few weeks ago. In their most recent match HIFK lost his to Inter 0-3 at Bolt Arena in Helsinki a week ago and stood no chance at all in this match, but we must remember that their captain, Sakari Mattila, was sent out in the 23rd minute after two consecutive yellow cards for using harsh language towards the referee. Such stupid behavior! Well, this incident describes HIFK’s horrible season well.. Before this they got totally demolished in Kuopio in the hands of KuPS losing 1-5. KuPS recorded whopping 28 scoring attempts and 13 shots on target – HIFK had two shots. KuPS also recorded 99 dangerous attacks – HIFK had just 31. It could, in honesty, have been 10-1! KuPS are the second-best team in this league, but it was still a shameful, low-morale performance! The team did not even fight. Moreover, HIFK have lost four of their latest five matches and the (1-1) draw came some three weeks ago in Mariehamn against IFK despite the hosts having 34(!) scoring attempts – HIFK recorded just four. It was indeed a very lucky point!

Lahti are not in great form either but did play okay in their latest match on the 29th of July taking a point from Ilves at home in a balanced match. They even recorded 54% ball possession and more shots on goal – Ilves had just one – and dangerous attacks. A positive performance as a whole as Ilves are a decent team. Lahti did seem to have good fighting and team spirit. Lahti’s defense looked a lot better than before in this match and had a solid structure. Their offense is still limited but HIFK's shaky defense will surely offer them many chances to score.. Before this Lahti lost to SJK 1-3, Honka 0-5 and KuPS 0-4 but all three are top five teams by pure class in this league and the losses were more clear than the events on the pitch would suggest. Some five weeks ago they did beat Inter Turku 2-1 though and have won three of their most recent five home games. Lahti have 58% chance to send HIFK home without points and bring my fans and me the 7th winner in a row betting on Veikkausliiga!

本译文使用有道机器翻译，仅供参考：

北京时间周一晚些时候，拉赫蒂在拉赫登球场迎接了来自赫尔辛基的观众。这是我祖国足球的最高水平。这里的赌注很高——人们可以说，特别是对HIFK。他们目前是这个联盟中垫底的球队，共有12支球队。第12名的球队下赛季将降级到Ykkönen。HIFK只有可怜的7分，他们的净胜球差糟透了——11:33!拉赫蒂同样令人失望，他们拿到了13分，净胜球为16:38。这两支球队本赛季都已经聘请了一位新教练，但他们的比赛水平并没有提高太多。如果HIFK今天输了，他们的处境会变得非常困难，最终与拉赫蒂相差9分。

让我们试着想出一些关于HIFK的积极的东西——尽管这很难。这支球队最近聘请了最著名、技术最好的球员之一(在他6-10年前的巅峰时期)和最成功的芬兰球员之一罗曼·埃雷门科。35岁的埃列缅科出生于苏联，有俄罗斯血统。他小时候随家人搬到了芬兰西部的Pietarsaari。他在意大利，尤其是俄罗斯踢了很长一段成功的职业生涯。然而，上周他在接受媒体采访时表示，他正在考虑在今年夏天早些时候辞职，但踢球的“火花”终究还是存在的。在他的第一场比赛前，他和HIFK一起训练了一个月——大约两年——就在上周。2016年，他的职业生涯受到重创，他被判在赛后兴奋剂测试中使用可卡因。结果，他被禁止踢足球两年。在芬兰，有很多媒体对他很感兴趣，一些记者似乎把他视为HIFK的救世主。他在维考斯利加仍然是一名优秀的球员，这名中场在对阵国米的上半场确实有一些漂亮的传球，但在64分钟后离开了球场。他的身体状况还远没有达到最佳状态，速度也远不如6-8年前。博彩市场似乎认为他会给HIFK带来很大的改变，这当然会影响赔率。自从HIFK到来后，我也提高了他的功率等级，但不是很明显。我认为埃雷门科以后会进步的，但现在我们必须现实地看待他在《HIFK》中的角色。

我们不能忘记HIFK是多么的弱，尽管有3-4个好球员，比如最近表现非常好的Hing-Glover。然而，他们现在失去了他们最重要的球员贝托。葡萄牙传奇门将已经受够了在HIFK的痛苦，几周前离开了。在他们最近的一场比赛中，HIFK在一周前在赫尔辛基博尔特球场0-3输给了国米，在这场比赛中根本没有机会，但我们必须记住，他们的队长萨卡里·马蒂拉，在第23分钟连续两张黄牌后，因为对裁判使用了严厉的语言而被罚下场。这种愚蠢的行为!这个事件很好地描述了HIFK恐怖的赛季。在此之前，他们在库奥皮奥被完全摧毁，输了1-5。up记录了惊人的28次得分尝试和13次射正——HIFK有2次射门。KuPS也记录了99次危险袭击，而HIFK只有31次。说实话，本来可以是10比1!勇士队是联盟中第二好的球队，但这仍然是一个可耻的，士气低落的表现!球队甚至没有战斗。此外，HIFK在最近的5场比赛中输掉了4场，在大约三周前的马里汉与IFK的比赛中(1-1)战平，尽管东道主有34次(!)进球尝试——HIFK只有4次。这确实是一个非常幸运的点!

拉赫蒂的状态也不太好，但在7月29日的最新一场比赛中发挥不错，在一场平衡的比赛中从伊尔维斯手中拿了一分。他们甚至记录了54%的控球率和更多的射门——伊尔维斯只有一次——以及危险的进攻。整体表现积极，伊尔维斯是一支不错的球队。拉赫蒂似乎有很好的斗志和团队精神。拉赫蒂的防守在这场比赛中看起来比以前好多了，有一个稳固的结构。他们的进攻仍然有限，但HIFK脆弱的防守肯定会给他们提供很多得分的机会。在此之前，拉赫蒂1-3输给了SJK, Honka 0-5和KuPS 0-4，但这三支球队都是这个联赛纯级别前五的球队，输掉比赛比球场上发生的事情更明显。大约五周前，他们确实2-1击败了国米图尔库，并且在最近的五场主场比赛中赢了三场。拉赫蒂有58%的机会把HIFK送回家，并且让我和我的粉丝成为Veikkausliiga连续第7个赢家!