According to Uronen, when faced with adversity, you can either give up or be ready for a new opportunity.
Dublin
The squealers defender Ye Uronen30, is in a rare situation. For more than fifty days, he has only been in the starting line-up for the club team or the national team once. It happened in October in the last international match against England, when he played the entire match at the Olympic Stadium.
The worst thing is that he doesn’t really know the reasons for his discrimination.
“I said [Charlotten] to the head coach that this is the first time in my career that I can say with all my heart that there is no reason why I should not play. I asked what I can do to be able to play again”, says Jere Uronen in Dublin.
In his first MLS league season, Uronen played 26 regular season matches. He knows his worth well.
“I know our team is better when I’m on the field.”
At the end of the regular season, he got a rest, and the team won that match 4–0. After that, he started the last four games of the regular season on the bench. After the last game of the regular season, he asked the coach what could be done better.
“He said he completely understood my frustration and noted that it’s hard to change a team when it’s going well.”
He didn’t get a minute in three playoff games, and then Charlotte’s season ended.
Although the lack of playing time disturbed the rest of the season, otherwise life has been normal in the United States. He says that the family has adapted to the new environment more easily since the years in Belgium. The years in France and Germany were not as pleasant.
According to Uronen, the club has taken good care of his family. The oldest child has learned English quickly at school and praises the school.
“Fortunately, the children have come to their mother and are super social. Wives do a lot of things together. Life is nice, and that’s important in this profession.”
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In the case of adversity, you can give up and blame others or be ready when a new opportunity comes.
Jere Uronen doesn’t complain about the fact that there is a tougher competition for playing time in the national team these days.
In the national team Uronen has had to get used to the slowly decreasing playing time. From 2014 to 2021, he was actually always in the starting line-up as a left winger when fit. After the EC tournament, the situation changed. The coaching staff no longer drew Uronen’s name as often in the opening.
In the 2022 Nations League, Uronen played three out of six matches. Out of the ten matches of the EC qualifiers, Uronen was in the starting line-up for three. Uronen has been in the starting line-up twice in the autumn Nations League.
“I don’t really know why it is,” Uronen answers the question about his reduced responsibility.
“Probably because the coaching management thinks there have been better alternatives. They always choose what they think is the best starting line-up. I haven’t been in that group very many times lately.”
He says he wouldn’t join the national team if he didn’t feel he could help.
“I will come here as long as I play at the level that I deserve to be in the starting line-up. I have such a wonderful family that I will not run away from them. There must be a good reason for me to spend a week or a week and a half away from them.”
“Of course, it’s a different feeling to come here and wonder if I’ll be able to play than when I knew the coaches trusted me completely. But if I came here annoyed, it would be pointless for me to come here. Then I would drag the other dudes into some negative aura. I would be in the way here and a nuisance.”
Uronen says that no one in the national team thinks they are better than anyone else.
“If we think about the games in September, we have the captain of the Serie A team in the team [Joel Pohjanpalo]which was not in the opening at the time. Everyone can take him as a model for how professional he is. Everyone knows how good he is.”
Let’s interpret Uronen’s statements for a moment. You don’t need to read between the lines very much to understand that Uronen knows his own value and also, for example, the quality of Pohjanpalo.
In general, it has aroused wonder why the Huuhkajie’s most experienced and also the best players have been used so sparingly in the autumn League of Nations.
Head coach at Wembley in September Markku Kanerva surprised by substituting both Uronen and Teemu Pukin. After that, Finland didn’t get as good attacks anymore when Pukki was not on the field and the defense started to leak.
What did you think when you were taken on the exchange?
“Then I thought, what the hell. There are things I cannot influence myself. I think I played well enough to deserve to stay on the field, but I don’t decide those things. In the case of setbacks, you can give up and blame others, or be ready when a new opportunity comes.”
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There was never any fear of failure.
Jere Uronen’s family is having a good time in the United States, where he played his first season in the MLS league this year.
He says he is a simple man in the sense that he never expected a professional career in football. As a junior, he went to watch national team games, but never dreamed of playing in them himself one day.
“If you don’t assume anything, you don’t take pressure. I played football every day for fun. Then the repetitions accumulated. There was never any fear of failure. Life was full of positive surprises.”
Uronen is one of the best wingbacks in the recent history of the national team, and maybe even the best if we are talking only about pure wingbacks.
In his career, Uronen has played in the Swedish league, the Belgian league, the Bundesliga, the French league and the MLS league. He has won the Belgian League and the Cup with Genk and played in the playoffs of the Europa League.
In the eyes of the general public, he has perhaps not received the appreciation he deserves. That spring, when Uronen won the Belgian championship, Teemu Pukki attracted the most attention in Finland with his goals and promotion to the Premier League.
What do you think about how your career has been valued in Finland?
“I have no idea what people think about my career,” Uronen states.
And he doesn’t really care.
“I don’t want to sound rude, but I don’t really care what people outside my family think of me. It means more that my children, wife, parents and close friends are proud. I’ve always enjoyed being a bit invisible. I believe that I am respected.”
“The only childhood dream that I haven’t achieved is the World Cup with Huuhkajie. It has been the biggest dream. Otherwise, I have been able to realize a lot from that list of dreams.”
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“The biggest danger is losing self-confidence.”
The national football team was preparing for the match against Ireland on the outskirts of Dublin.
Uronen says that he considers it a good thing that a new way of playing is now being created for the national team. According to him, it makes the players’ work easier. He believes that Huuhkajat will force his way out of the profit hole at some point.
Thursday’s away game against Ireland may seal Huuhkajie’s relegation to the C League of the Nations League.
“In training, we have to work harder and challenge ourselves and each other more. The biggest danger is losing self-confidence.”
You should never stop trying, he says.
“I know as a team how easy it is if I win the first couple of duels. I feel immediately if the attacker starts to hesitate. I know I’ve won the game. You should never stop challenging.”
Ireland–Finland in the Nations League on Thursday at 21:45 Finnish time. YLE TV2 will show the match.
Correction at 9:14. Earlier, the story incorrectly stated that Uronen won the doubles championship in the 2018-2019 season.