By Michael Preston

The last time the women’s national teams of Finland and Spain met on the gridiron was back in 2015 when a rookie running back took her first tentative carries with the ball in the blue and white of Suomi.

The two nations meet again on Saturday as both make their bow in the 2023/24 IFAF Women’s European Championship at the Myyrmäen jalkapallostadion in Vantaa. During the eight-year span in-between, Spain has been absent from international competition, while the running back in question has been tearing through defenses the world over.

Tytti Kuusinen is modest and jovial as she discusses the successes of her football career so far and compares life back home in Finland with currently living in Massachusetts while playing for the Boston Renegades of the Women’s Football Alliance.

Among her accomplishments, Tytti has won two European titles and helped Finland claim bronze at the IFAF World Championship last year, which included an impressive win over Canada.. Add in back-to-back Maple Cup triumphs with the Helsinki Wolverines, two championship game MVP awards and owning almost every rushing record in the Finnish league and it’s clear the Seinäjoki native has been busy since that time first lining up against Spain.

“I’m in Boston only for the season, and work remotely from here, which is really great,” says Tytti, who will return to play in the final games of the season for the Wolverines later this year. “I came here in the beginning of April with a month to practice before the season started. I had an injury last fall, so I worked on that during the offseason and some coaching, which enabled me to get some reps as well.”

As was the case with so many sporting pursuits, Tytti’s opportunity to play in Boston was initially put on hold when the Coronavirus prevented her from traveling across the Atlantic, making this season with the Renegades her second. Finland teammate Janna-Jemina Seiles helped her settle in New England and she has Minna Lehtinen, who plays on the defensive line, as a Finnish ally.

“It’s nice to have someone here to speak that ’secret’ language!" she explains "It’s nice to have a friend from your own country, but in general I have made Boston home very easily because it is a very European city.

“I want to come back here to play again because of the work ethic of the team. Even though we’re not professionals we do everything as professionally as possible, which makes you better every day, every practice. Boston is such a sports city, so all our supporters here are amazing.”

But there is a downside.

“Rye bread!” Tytti laughs. “What I miss from Finland, is of course from my family and friends, but over here, I can’t get rye bread.”

That void will be filled later this week when Tytti returns to Helsinki to again line up against Spain, this time as a seasoned veteran of a team expected to mount a challenge for the European crown. But developing a Finnish squad that can go on to reach new heights is of as much importance as winning.

“Of course, we want to defend our European championship, which is the main aim, but because the concept of playing the tournament during two years is so different it will be interesting to see how our team develops during this time,” she said. “It gives us a chance to bring in new players and grow the team that way.

“Beating Canada was a big step for Finnish football, to be able to beat a North American country, and those World Championships lit the fire in us that we know we can play at that level, and we can beat the best teams in the future.”

Standing in the way on the European continent are Great Britain, Germany, Sweden and Spain.

“In our team we talk a lot about not taking anything for granted, Tytti says. “We play every play until the end and we Finnish play with what we call ‘sisu’ (it means ‘with guts’ according to an online translator). In the World Championship we played against the U.S., the biggest and best team in the world and we had the attitude that we would go in there and try to beat them.”

As for Spain, Tytti remembers: “At that game they weren’t that big, but they were fast, and they tackled you low and they came hard. So, all I know about Spain is what I remember about playing in 2015.”

Things might have been different and the name Tytti Kuusinen would be unknown in American football circles, but for a college classmate, who steered her away from the round ball game that is popular across Europe.

“I moved to Seinäjoki for my university studies and before that I’d played soccer and I was in fact looking for a soccer team to join,” Tytti explains. “I saw a website that there was American football being played, but I knew nothing about it other than they had pads and uniforms, lots of contact and odd-looking balls.

“My new classmate told me that she was going to the tryouts, and I told her I was going with her. We got to try on all the gear and play different positions and already from that first practice I felt like ball carrying was right for me and I liked the tackling, and the feeling was that I’d come home, and this was what I should have been doing all the time. It felt very natural to me. In Seinäjoki we only had a small team, so I also played linebacker and was the kicker and even defensive line sometimes, but carrying the ball always came easy to me.”

That prowess was evident when Tytti scored a nine-yard rushing touchdown to earn Finland an unexpected halftime lead against the United States in the IFAF World Championship on home soil last year. This weekend the same end zone at the Myyrmäen jalkapallostadion will be in her sights again, back where it all started, against Spain.

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Photo: Pekka Halttunen