it turns out that the great jari litmanen is still alive and still playing football at the age of 38. overnight he helped his finland team clinically dismantle hapless wales, 2 – 0, at cardiff’s millenium stadium. it was litmanen of old as he picked out pinpoint pass after pass, holding the welsh defense at bay. he set up jonaton johanson’s first goal after some neat work. ex-sheffield wednesday striker, shefqi kuqi, scored the second to finish the game as a contest.
the win pushes the finnish above the welsh for third in the group behind leaders, germany, and the second-placed russians. i’d really like to see finland make it into the world cup just so jari can finally play in a major international tournament before he retires. but it’s going to be a hard slog.
from soccernet.com: Finland’s Birmingham-born boss Stuart Baxter hailed his side’s victory and the performance of veteran midfielder Litmanen.”Jari was outstanding, he is in the process of re-inventing himself at 38. He may not be able to do the runs he used to a few years ago, but he can still pass the ball and he dominated the game.”He is an amazing person. He has been a great servant to Finnish football, a great player.”
no shit, baxter…