Training was from 5:00pm – 6:30pm followed by a meal and short meeting at 7:30pm.  Everyone was then off to bed, because most had played European Club (UEFA Champions League or UEFA Cup) in the middle of last week followed by league fixtures on Saturday and Sunday.

Including myself and the 25 players and 11 coaches and staff, people flew in from 15 different countries this morning including:  USA, Portugal, Spain, Greece, Holland, Russia, Poland, England, Scotland, Belgium, Austria, Serbia, Romania and Ukraine.

Training Session # 1 – Monday , 5:00 pm, Germany

For all the soccer coaches, a brief synopsis of the training (full report with exercises to come).

Objective / Aim :  To get the flight out of the players body and to get the last weeks games out of their mind.  To come together as a team.

25 players – 2 were at the Doctor (Radoslaw Matusiak of SC Heerenveen and Jacek Bak of Austria Wien).  There could be a problem with Jacek Bak (captain and most capped player) and he may be out for up to 6 weeks with a back/disc problem.  The staff had a big discussion after training about who to call in based on availability, needs of the team , level of experience etc.

A - Warm-up – Rondo – 2 grids of 6V2, 1 of 5V2

B - Short talk with Leo Beenhakker and then a 15 minute slow jog with the coordination coach, followed by coordination and dynamic stretching.

C – Artur Boruc and Maciej Zurawski of Celtic FC, Marcin Wasilewski of RSC Anderlecht, Mical Zewlakow of Olympiacos CFP and Lukasz Garula of GKS Belchatow who all played 90 minutes on Sunday, finished with a 8 minute run (cooling down) and walked back to the hotel.

Frans Hoek and Polish Gker Coach took keepers Tomasz Kuszczak and Lukasz Fabianski and worked apart from the team for the rest of the session.

Leo and the Polish Assistant did a passing exercise (with combinations) with the 15 remaining players.  Exercise and coaching points to follow.

D – The 15 players than did 4 progressive sprints at 80% with change of direction  and then 5 shorter sprints with turning and exploding at 90%.

E – Possession 6V6 plus 3.  5 sets times 3 minutes with coaching and rest in between.

F – Longer sprints at 85% staying at one speed the whole time. Distance between 50 and 140 meters.

G – Cooling down and stretching



Poland squad
- Portugal and Finland UEFA 2008 Qualifying – September 2007
Goalkeepers: Artur Boruc (Celtic FC), Tomasz Kuszczak (Manchester United FC), Łukasz Fabiański (Arsenal FC).
Defenders: Marcin Wasilewski (RSC Anderlecht), Paweł Golański (FC Steaua Bucuresti), Arkadiusz Głowacki (Wisła Kraków), Mariusz Jop (FK Moskva), Jacek Bąk (FK Austria Wien), Michał Żewłakow (Olympiacos CFP), Grzegorz Bronowicki (FK Crvena Zvezda), Dariusz Dudka (Wisła Kraków).
Midfielders: Przemysław Kaźmierczak (FC Porto), Radosław Sobolewski (Wisła Kraków), Mariusz Lewandowski (FC Shakhtar Donetsk), Jakub Błaszczykowski (BV Borussia Dortmund), Łukasz Garguła (GKS Bełchatów), Jacek Krzynówek (VFL Wolfsburg), Euzebiusz Smolarek (Real Racing Club Santander), Wojciech Łobodziński (Zagłębie Lubin), Michał Goliński (Zagłębie Lubin).
Forwards: Maciej Żurawski (Celtic FC), Łukasz Piszczek (Hertha BSC Berlin), Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton FC), Marek Saganowski (Southampton FC), Radosław Matusiak (SC Heerenveen).

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Hodgson hit by triple blow
Monday 3 September 2007
Finland coach Roy Hodgson is without a trio of key players in his 25-man
squad for the UEFA EURO 2008™ Group A qualifiers against Serbia and Poland
although he has been boosted by the return of midfielder Mika Väyrynen.

Trio out
Finland go into the matches in Belgrade on 8 September and Helsinki four
days later second in their pool, trailing Poland by two points, and miss
captain Jari Litmanen and midfielder Aki Riihilahti because of injury while
defender Toni Kallio is ruled out through suspension. PSV Eindhoven's
Väyrynen returns from his ban however, while there are surprise call-ups for
Queen's Park Rangers FC defender Sampsa Timoska, Tampere United forward Jari
Niemi and TPS Turku winger Mika Ääritalo. Talking about the 28-year-old
Timoska, Hodgson said: "I haven't seen him play this season, but now I have
time to get acquainted with him. We need players in the defence because of
Kallio being out."

Finland squad
Goalkeepers: Jussi Jääskeläinen (Bolton Wanderers FC), Mikko Kavén (Tampere
United), Niki Mäenpää (FC Den Bosch).

Defenders: Sami Hyypiä (Liverpool FC), Hannu Tihinen (FC Zürich), Petri
Pasanen (Werder Bremen), Toni Kallio (BSC Young Boys), Toni Kuivasto
(Djurgårdens IF), Ari Nyman (FC Thun), Sampsa Timoska (Queen's Park Rangers
FC).

Midfielders: Teemu Tainio (Tottenham Hotspur FC), Mika Väyrynen (PSV
Eindhoven), Joonas Kolkka (NAC Breda), Markus Heikkinen (SK Rapid Wien),
Jari Ilola (IF Elfsborg), Mika Nurmela (HJK Helsinki), Jarkko Wiss (Tampere
United), Daniel Sjölund (Djurgårdens IF), Roman Eremenko (Udinese Calcio),
Mika Ääritalo (TPS Turku).

Forwards: Alexei Eremenko Jr (FC Saturn Moskovskaya Oblast), Mikael Forssell
(Birmingham City FC), Jonatan Johansson (Malmö FF), Shefki Kuqi (Fulham FC),
Jari Niemi (Tampere United).