The Finnish U19 national team suffered a heavy defeat of 93-0 (51-0) against Germany on Saturday in the final group stage match of the European Championship held in Langenfeld. The victory secured Germany a medal and a place in the medal series to be played next year. Finland will continue its games with placement matches.

Germany literally ran over Finland on Saturday in the EM game in Langenfeld. The well-prepared Germans were better than the visitors in practically all aspects of the game and scored points on every offensive possession. The score of 93-0 could have been worse if the hosts hadn’t run down the clock at the end of the match without trying to push the score into triple digits.

Finland’s best moments in the match came during the opening drive. Aleksi Peltokangas’s offense started advancing from their own 17-yard line after the kickoff and reached the opponent’s 17-yard line with strong runs from Konsta Mäenpää and a catch by Paavo Rantakömi. Then the Germans shut the door and pressed the gas on their own offensive possession.

The physical Germans dominated the lines on both sides of the ball. The quarterback who opened the match, Lennart Thoma, distributed the ball evenly to his running backs, who repeatedly found running lanes thanks to good blocks from the line ends. The most eager of the running backs, Düsseldorf Panthers’ Valentino Cardenas Gonzalez, pushed the score to three touchdowns before making way for other ball carriers at halftime.

Finland had previously faced Germany three times at the U19 level. In 1994, the Finns defeated the Germans in the EM final in Berlin 37-16, but in the games played since then, Germany has taken the victories.

The score of 93-0 is the largest defeat ever suffered by a Finnish American football national team. The previous ”record” was from 1999 when the Finnish men lost 89-0 to Mexico in a World Cup tournament held in Palermo, Italy.

Image: AFVD