Football talk with Eero Markkanen: Long, Tall and Sizzling Hot

Now that Eero Markkanen is settling in pretty well at AIK in Solna after his move from JJK Jyväskylä to the bright lights of Stockholm, it is a good time to take a look back on his career before the move. Maalipotku blog talked with Eero last August as he was just about to return from an injury.

A Goalscorer

After his sensational debut half season in the Finnish Veikkausliiga in 2012 (14 games, 7 goals for his foster club JJK) Eero continued his strong performance in the wintry Finnish League Cup, scored several goals and intimidated the defensive lines of top league teams. However, the 2013 season did not go quite as planned.

Ready for return after injury, August 2013

Eero, you have been out of the game for 1,5 months after the IFK Mariehamn game at home, and returning now. You have made a habit of scoring against them. Is it their style of football that suits you or what?

"Yeah, IFK has been a good opponent to me. I don't see them playing so differently from others. I just have got good chances against them, and of course you need to punish them then. I have been always a danger against them, and I think they then must have it in the back of their minds."

After a strong pre-season Markkanen suffered a hamstring injury in the opening game against IFK and was out for well over a month. On his return at home he again met with IFK. Coming on as a substitute after 60 minutes he soon turned the game around by scoring twice in less than two minutes.

In the opening goal you had plenty of space in the penalty area to take the ball down and smash it in?
"Yes, that was a good cross, and I was behind the centre back running to the front post. He took a step back, the ball came across over him and I got enough room. I managed to fool him and he didn't see what I was doing."

Centre back Lyyski is left behind

You know right away what to do there and then?
"Just take the ball down and score. And when I shoot in the top corner, that's it."

And after a short while another. What was your first thought when you scored the second one?
"I wonder what I was thinking... Feeling good when scoring, and it was quite unbelievable having scored two in two minutes after just coming back from injury. Quite a relief, all the pressure was gone, I still score goals."

"Pressure gone, still scoring goals"

And then again after a few minutes, running into the goalkeeper, and back on sick leave?
"I don't know which was worse, the pain or being pissed-off because of a new injury. Quite an emotional moment."

Back on sick leave

The League Cup in pre-season was a success for you, five goals and strong performances, right until the final, where some of JJK's footballing problems started to show?
"It went really well, we improved our game all the time, picked out problem areas in training and developed our game in those. We looked for and found solutions for why some things were not fully functioning. But somehow we just settled with that when the season started. We kinda thought this is good enough, got to the final and so on."

Another League Cup goal scored

"In the final I was very alone, so that when I got the ball there was no one moving forward. I get the ball in the air, and the guys are here and there. You can only pass the ball backwards somewhere..."

"In pre-season the whole team played well together. We worked hard for it, even though we could not train on a full-size pitch in winter. Still we created game-like moves and situations. And then going to Cyprus, training on a proper pitch and playing two matches. We could put our moves into practice. And after coming back we worked our way through to the League Cup final, we didn't concede a goal against previous season's top three league teams."

Eero the junior footballer

Where did you start your football?
"My first matches were at pre-school age, not too many. Then we soon moved to France when my dad went there to play professional basketball. In 2000 we moved back to Finland, to Jyväskylä, and a classmate was playing with JJK Foxes, so I joined the same team. I also tried basket, but when there was no one I knew from before, I stayed with football."

When did you decide football would be your number one?
"I don't really know. When they started a regional team I was not even in, and in the second year I was on the bench. And when we got into B juniors we had first and second teams. I was third choice forward in B1, so I chose to move to B2 to get games, I was 16 at the time. I had a good season and after that I got invited once to train with the men's first team."

"Next season I played with the A junior team, I was younger than the others. When I got there and was doing ok I felt that I'm fine here. I started thinking for the first time that I could even get to train and play regularly with the club's first team some day."

How about getting a place in the first team, then?
"Well, the next winter, 2008-09, they lifted me up, and I only trained with the team. Then I got injured and returned to the junior team. In 2009 I played in the junior team, scored 16 goals in 20 games in the junior league. And continued there in 2010, too."

Goals galore in 2nd division

After the seasons in the junior team it was time to move on.
"I started my military in January 2011 and only managed to get to train with JJK twice in first two months. I needed to train and play, so one of the mates asked me to join ViPa (Vihtavuoren Pamaus), a Division Two club. We did quite well that season, finished seventh in the 14-team division, newly-promoted team as we were. We had several old experienced JJK players in the team, and I scored nine in 14 games."

Then again back to JJK for 2012?
"Yeah, Martsi (coach Kari Martonen) gave me lots of good advice in the winter, and then in spring they offered me a contract. I could not expect a lot of minutes in the early season and when there was a chance to go on loan to Division Two WJK Varkaus I went there with some JJK vintage 92 players. We had a young and talented group, but only had maximum three players on the bench there, so I was thinking if this would last for long."

"I came back to JJK early July, and a little later WJK quit in the middle of the season. I had scored nine goals in 12 matches there."

"I remember my last game for WJK quite well. We played away in Kokkola, and we didn't have any subs to start. After 30 minutes one of us got a red, and early second half another one was injured. So we had to finish the game with eight players on in 30 degrees heat. Just two days after the previous game. Well, we lost 4-0. I already knew then it would be my last game and I would be joining JJK."

Into Veikkausliiga limelights

The next episode can be seen in Veikkausliiga statistics then?
"It was quite exciting, having just played in Division Two at best, and then end of July you start a game in Europa League qualifications. Things happened really fast. That Europa League match was a real highlight, even if we failed to get through."

Eero Markkanen got his first League start mid-July 2012 against Inter Turku. And only a week later the team travelled to Åland, to play IFK Mariehamn, and as they say, rest is history...
"The game against IFK, everything went 100% right! A hat-trick, right foot, header, and the third with my left. I can still remember the first league goal so clearly. When I saw the ball in the net, I looked around to see if I had been offside, even when it was from a backwards pass. Then I thought if there was a foul somewhere. I just could not believe I had really scored! It felt so unreal."

When had you last scored a hat-trick before?
"The last one had been in Division Two in 2010 when I was still with the junior team and got to play a few games with the local club Blackbird. My third senior game and I scored a hat-trick. That game ended 3-3, too. I've scored a brace several times, but not really three any more often. Last winter I did score three in a League Cup match against Inter. I never scored hat-tricks in the A junior team."

In the 2012 season you played in 14 games and scored 7 in total. I think you started half of those games on bench?
"Yeah, seven and seven. In many games I only got something like five minutes. Then when Tunde (Babatunde Wusu) got injured in August, I got ill and lost couple of weeks completely, could not even train. I would have got more games if I had not been ill, and then only really got back towards autumn. I had to work hard to get match-fit."

Good season 2012, seven goals and three assists

End of season 2012 before its time, ankle injury

You did get pretty fit, too.
"Yeah, everything turned out really good in the end."

Difficult season, but still a champion

JJK Jyväskylä and Eero Markkanen had high hopes for the Veikkausliiga season 2013. The season, however, was a huge disappointment for the club that struggled both on and off the field. Financial troubles loomed over the future of the first team, and only helping hands from the local football community as well of a group of private investors saved the club. Footballwise, too, JJK hit a downward spiral after a place in the League Cup final in the spring. Head coach Kari Martonen had to leave at the end of June.

JJK's 5-year-flight in the Finnish Veikkausliiga came finally to an end and the story of the club continues in Division One. Many of the experienced players saw their contracts out, underperforming, and towards the end of the season the club fielded a very youthful team. By then Eero Markkanen had already been loaned out in August for the rest of the season to HJK Helsinki, who took the league trophy for the fifth time on the trot.

Unfortunately for him, HJK's international striker Mikael Forssell got into a good form just when Eero joined the team leaving him with limited minutes for the champions.
"I always want to play more. But it is the coach who decides when and where I play."

On top, sinking one in own club's net

Nevertheless, Eero got into HJK's starting eleven in the away match against his own club at the end of October. And punished his mates with a towering header from a corner.

Winning the league trophy with HJK and seeing his own team JJK relegated to Division One in the same season left the man with mixed feelings. Born and having really got into football in Jyväskylä, and having been a keen supporter of the hometown club himself, he feels really strongly for the club.

Leaving home stadium for the last time, in away colours

You used to be a regular in the home supporters stand with the rest of the (supporter group) Harjun Pojat?
"Yeah, it was in 2008, when I was there most often. Division One season."

The season when JJK gained promotion to the league?
"I was there. Every home game."
 
Any matches bigger than others for you?
"KuPS (local rivals from neighbouring Kuopio) is always a special one. Having stood there and travelled with Harjun Pojat, I hate them more than most."

So, if KuPS came knocking on your door?
"I would never go. Even if it was the last club on earth!"

Going places

As a striker, what do you see as your biggest assets?
"My left foot, when I hit right, and I'm fit. And actually the thing that I am not just a one-sided target man, I see that as a strength."

Somehow I feel that you still need to work on your game in the air, even when you are so tall?
"I agree, for example when playing youth league and scoring 16 goals a season, I didn't score a single one with my head. I'm ok flicking the ball to teammates, but scoring, that I need to work on a lot. I've been very surprised by the fact that when I only scored two headed goals in two years, then now I suddenly hit three in the league. And I must improve the use of my physique, I am all the time doing better, but still need to work on it."

Using his head - and scoring

"My reading of the game, when I get to play, improves really fast and well. The previous two winters, I have learned so much, and developed my moves on the pitch with the help and guidance of the coaches. That was not so much in focus in junior and youth team coaching."

Are you already thinking about the national team?
"I don't think so much about the future, I take more like a day at a time. But if I keep on improving and playing well, then I will get invited in the team, if they feel it is time. People have been asking about it a little, mainly sports journalists have, but I can't be bothered about it now."

Your type of a footballer is quite rare. For a guy your size (197 cm) you are quick and quite versatile, I cannot think of too many like that, not even internationally...
"Zlatan", Eero snaps immediately, and laughs.

Is Zlatan some sort of a role model for you or have you looked up some things from him?
"I've naturally watched him play, but for me Thierry Henry and the Brazilian Ronaldo were more important. I have been watching them a lot on YouTube. I've had kickabouts, played keepy-uppy and tried all kinds of tricks."

You appear quiet, and even shy. Comparing to Zlatan, there seems to be a big difference. Composed and gentle outside the pitch, I would say.
"That's what they all keep saying, really quiet and at ease", Eero laughs, but soon gets serious again, "but you cannot really make it on the pitch if you are like that. You have to be mean."

Your contract with JJK ends at the end of 2014, but there must be other interested clubs, too?
"Well, there might be."

Anything going on right now? You must have ambitions to move on at some point?
"There is nothing concrete just now, but of course."

Aiming higher

Which foreign league do you think would suit you best?
"I follow the Premier League the most, but maybe Sweden or Norway would be the best option at this point. A little tougher matches than in here in Finland. But if I go somewhere, I need to get to play, not sit on the bench."

Germany, France, Holland, would these then be a step up?
"One of these could be the next after then. The next step, if you think it that way, going forward."

If nothing happens now in the August transfer window, would it then be Veikkausliiga for the next season, too?
"Everything is possible, you never know."

As we now know, the title holders HJK took Eero on loan, but kept him mainly on bench. After the domestic league season was over AIK invited him for trials, and eventually would not let go of him. Three goals in three matches was enough to convince the Swedish Allsvenskan runners-up. Eero still kept his cool.

And after signing just before Christmas, he has just kept on going and scoring.

A new chapter - full of confidence

The original interview in two parts (in Finnish) was published on August 9, 2013