Finland 2 - 1 Liechtenstein

Finnish blushes spared

Updated: June 6, 2009, 8:00 AM UK

Finland came from behind to beat Liechtenstein 2-1 on Saturday, keeping their 2010 World Cup qualification hopes alive and avoiding a shock home result.

With the Finns failing to generate chances and a draw a looming possibility, Jonatan Johansson ran into the box in the 71st minute to take a Roman Eremenko pass and drove a shot into the far corner of the net past keeper Peter Jehle.

Liechtenstein had opened the scoring in the 13th minute against the run of play, notching their first goal of the qualification when Beni Fischer slid a pass into the box to Mario Frick, who shot past keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen.

Mikael Forssell, who squandered two good scoring chances earlier in the match, atoned with a 33rd minute tap-in from an Aleksei Eremenko cross to draw Finland level.

Finland now have 10 points from five games heading into a must-win match with Russia on Wednesday in Helsinki. Liechtenstein remain bottom of group four with one point.