JUSSI Jaaskelainen has turned down the chance of adding to his international honours to recharge his batteries for Wembley.

The Wanderers' keeper was invited to join Aston Villa's Peter Enckelman in the Finland squad for tomorrow's friendly against Wales, which will be watched by a 66,500 sell-out crowd at Cardiff's Millennium Stadium.

But he declined, explaining to his new national manager that he needed to rest ahead of Sunday's showdown with Villa, when he will become the first Finn to play in an FA Cup semi-final.

So, while rival Enckelman and his Reebok team-mates Allan Johnston and Paul Ritchie (Scotland) and Claus Jensen (Denmark) have had their Wembley build up interrupted by national service, the big six-footer has had his feet up.

Relaxed

"They rang me last week when Antti Niemi of Hearts was injured and asked me to go with them but we've been playing two games a week for three or four weeks and I felt I needed to rest," the Wanderers' No 1 explained as he relaxed at the Springs Hydro health farm in Leicestershire, where Sam Allardyce and what remains of his squad have spent the first part of their Wembley warm-up.

"I spoke to the new manager, Muurinen, and told him I felt it was better for me that I stayed here. They were training Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday morning and playing Wednesday night so I wouldn't have had any rest this week, which I feel is important.

"It's such a long and tiring season and I am not really used to playing so many games. It's very hard mentally and physically."

Jaaskelainen, who won 15 caps at Under-21 level - on many occasions in the same squad as Enckelman - has strong ambitions to add to the four senior caps he already has to his name but sees the semi-final as his priority.

"Sunday is just another game in many ways but it is such a big game that I want to feel just right and the rest is so important.

"I have worked hard on my game and built up my confidence this season. I'm getting more games and when you get more games, your confidence increases." Having started the season as third choice at the Reebok, the 24-year-old initially profited from the misfortunes of fellow keepers Keith Branagan and Steve Banks, whose injuries promoted him to No 1. But he has kept his place on merit and goes into the semi-final on the top of his form and with the knowledge that his miraculous double save in the dying seconds of the quarter-final against Charlton, was as crucial to the victory as Eidur Gudjohnsen's spectacular matchwinner.

"I always felt when I was third choice that my chance would come, if I kept working" Jaaskelainen says, reflecting on the early weeks when he was still paying for the confidence crisis he suffered last season.

"I have worked very hard and things have gone well for me but I am still learning. I am only 24 and that is young for a goalkeeper."

Wanderers spent a similar break at the Springs Hydro before the quarter-final and Allardyce had no hesitation in booking a return visit in the hope that it would continue their winning streak in the cup.

"When we used the place before the Charlton game, the response from the players was a positive one," the manager explained. "It's got all the facilities and is very relaxing - a place where they can regenerate their energy levels and get all the tension out of their muscles. It refreshes them mentally and phsyically."

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