mtk progress despite defeat published: wednesday 6 august 2003, 22.56cet hjk helsinki 1-0 mtk hungária (agg: 2-3) juho mäkelä scores only goal for hjk but mtk celebrate.
a 1-0 victory was insufficient for hjk helsinki to reach the third qualifying round of the uefa champions league as mtk hungária sealed a 3-2 aggregate success.
solitary strike trailing 3-1 after last week's first leg in hungary, the finnish side largely controlled the match, but were only able to breach their opponents' defence on one occasion, as toni kallio's left-wing cross was turned into the net from close range by juho mäkelä four minutes past the hour.
late chances despite pressing forward in the closing stages, hjk were unable to find a second that would have sealed their progress on away goals. in fact, the home side were twice almost caught on the counterattack by the visitors, but brazilian forward welton da silva was unable to convert on each occasion.
missed opportunities hjk were on top from the first whistle, and created four clear goalscoring opportunities in the opening 45 minutes, with kallio missing the best of them when he rolled the ball agonisingly wide of an open goal. mäkelä also had three good opportunities, but a shot against the crossbar was the closest he came.
torghelle wide having failed to seriously threaten the home side's goal in the first half, mtk might have effectively killed off the tie six minutes after half-time, as sandor torghelle burst clean through on goal only to shoot centimetres wide of the post. it mattered little, however, as mtk held firm in the face of their opponents' pressure to set up a meeting with celtic fc in the third qualifying round.
