A closely-fought match was ultimately decided by Sweden coming out of the gates faster in Helsinki, scoring early through Sebastian Larsson and surviving a scary second half following Joona Toivio's 73rd minute strike to make it 2-1 (Blackburn Rovers defender Martin Olsson had added to the visitors' lead shortly after halftime).
Finland Vs. Sweden, 2012 European Qualifiers: Swedes Win Away, Move 2nd
Larsson's finish was calm and collected after being picked out by Kim Kallstrom with a glorious pass, but the rest of the game, played in torrential downpour, was fairly messed and not far off being ill-tempered. Olsson's goal was from two yards into an empty net after Lukas Hradecky spilled a shot by AC Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, and Toivio's was either a spectacular flicked finish or a lucky deflection that ghosted its way into the top corner. I'm going with lucky.
All in all, Finland played pretty well, but once Sweden were 2-0 up it was more or less game over. Sweden, meanwhile, have qualified for at least the playoffs and may well find themselves as the top second place team from all the groups, which would mean an automatic spot for the 2012 finals in Poland/Ukraine.
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