Interim manager Lee Carsley made six chances from the debacle against Greece, with goalkeeper Jordan Pickford replaced by Dean Henderson, but failed to sparkle until the side ranked 64th in the group and without a point ran out of steam late on.

The recalled Jack Grealish settled early England nerves with a cool finish from Angel Gomes’ excellent pass in the 18th minute, while Finland missed chances to put Carsley and his side under further pressure before Trent Alexander-Arnold’s brilliant late free-kick settled the game.

Declan Rice scored another from close-range with six minutes left to give the scoreline a more satisfactory appearance for Carsley and England.

Finland striker Fredrik Jensen was their biggest culprit as they tried to inflict more misery on England, missing good first-half opportunities before somehow turning an effort over the top from only six yards after the break.

Alexander-Arnold, operating at left-back in another Carsley break from convention, provided a rare moment of quality in a game desperately lacking the commodity, curling a magnificent 25-yard free-kick high past Finland keeper Lukas Hradecky after 74 minutes.

Finland, by then, were out on their feet and Rice stole in for an easy finish three minutes from time.

The Finns at least delighted the packed 32,000 crowd and got the reward their gallant efforts deserved when Arttu Hoskonen scored as England failed to deal with a corner.

The meeting between the two countries comes after Ghana held the 2022 Nordic-African Foreign Minister’s (NAFM) meeting in Helsinki, Finland.

The meeting was to discuss three thematic areas including peace and security, sustainable societies and cooperation in multilateral fora.

According to Mr Sarpong, the MoU which comes on the heels of the passage of Finland’s National Africa Strategy was timely as it would provide the framework for the two countries to engage in transparent dialogue and interaction and move relations between both countries forward in the spirit of friendship and cooperation.

The Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland, Mr Pekka Haavisto signed the agreement on behalf of Finland.

Ghana also held bilateral meetings with Norway and Sweden to deepen the cordial relations that exist between Ghana and the two respective countries.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the two Nordic nations should not bother sending delegations to convince Turkey, a key Nato member, of their bids.

He is angered by what he sees as their willingness to host Kurdish militants.

Without the support of all Nato members, Sweden and Finland cannot join the military alliance.

On Monday, Sweden said Europe was living in a dangerous new reality, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the move by Finland and Sweden to join the 30-member military alliance did not threaten Moscow directly – but stressed that any expansion of military infrastructure would trigger a response from the Kremlin.

At a news conference on Monday, Mr Erdogan said Turkey opposed the Finnish and the Swedish bids to join Nato, describing Sweden as a “hatchery” for terrorist organisations.

“Neither of these countries have a clear, open attitude towards terrorist organisation. How can we trust them?” the Turkish president said.

Turkey accuses the two Nordic nations of harbouring members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group it views as a terrorist organisation, and followers of Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt.

All member states must agree that a new country can join Nato, therefore Sweden and Finland require Turkey’s support in their bid to join the military alliance.

Mr Erdogan said Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother going to Ankara, Turkey’s capital, to convince it to approve their Nato bid.

His government has also pledged to block applications from countries that have imposed sanctions on it.

In 2019, both Nordic nations slapped an arms embargo on Ankara after its incursion into Syria.

Speaking in Parliament in Helsinki on Monday, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said he was surprised by Turkey’s stance, but added that his government was not interested in “bargaining” with Mr Erdogan.

Finland formally announced its bid to join Nato last week.

It was joined by neighbour Sweden on Saturday in a move that will end the Scandinavian country’s centuries-long military non-alignment.

“Nato will strengthen Sweden, Sweden will strengthen Nato,” Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said at a briefing on Monday.

She said Europe was now living in a dangerous new reality, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We are leaving one era behind us and entering a new one,” Ms Andersson told lawmakers during a debate in Stockholm, also on Monday.

She said a formal application could be handed in within several days and would be synchronised with Finland. Nato has signalled its willingness to admit the two new members.

However, Ms Andersson stressed that Sweden did not want permanent Nato bases or nuclear weapons on its territory.

Norway, Denmark and Iceland – all Nato members – immediately said they were ready to support Sweden and Finland by all means necessary if they came under attack.

The UK, also a Nato member, has already given security guarantees to Sweden and Finland to cover the transition period.

Monday’s announcement by Sweden came as Nato began one of its biggest exercises in the Baltic region, involving some 15,000 troops. Named “Hedgehog”, the drills in Estonia involve 10 countries, including Finland and Sweden.

In neighboring Finland, lawmakers are expected later in the day to formally endorse Finnish leaders’ decision also to join.

The moves by the two Nordic countries, ending Sweden’s more than 200 years of military nonalignment and Finland’s nonalignment after World War II, have provoked the ire of the Kremlin.

While most NATO members are keen to welcome the two countries as quickly as possible, Turkey has potentially complicated their accession by saying it cannot allow them to become members because of their perceived inaction against exiled Kurdish militants.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday doubled down on comments last week indicating that the two Nordic countries´ path to NATO would be anything but smooth. All 30 current NATO countries must agree to open the door to new members. He accused the two Nordic countries of refusing to extradite “terrorists” wanted by his country.

In Stockholm, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde signed the formal request to join the Alliance, which she said would be sent to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

“It feels like we have taken a decision that is the best for Sweden,” she said while signing the document.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto arrived in Sweden for an official two-day visit and was welcomed by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, who had invited him. Niinisto is scheduled to address Sweden’s Parliament in a speech expected to focus on NATO, and meet Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

And even fewer would imagine the vast world that lies behind its rusted doors.

We are led down four steep flights of concrete steps, covered by what seems like decades of dust, until, 25 metres below the surface, a long, sloping tunnel dug into solid rock stretches into the distance.

Further on, and even deeper underground, two sold steel doors, the first a metre thick and so heavy it takes two people to push it open, before it seals us off from the outside world with a thunderous bang.

Most Western countries have only just begun to contemplate the possibility of being targeted by Russian aggression following Putin’s shock invasion of Ukraine. But Finland has been preparing for decades.

And in its capital – where a quarter of the country’s 5.5million people live in its metropolitan area – they have taken no chances with their powerful eastern neighbour, suspicious even in the years when relations seemed friendly.

The result is a remarkable feat of engineering and foresight – a sprawling network of nearly 500 underground bunkers dug deep into the hard granite bedrock, stretching for almost 200 miles and covering around 10million square metres.

The bunkers have enough space – and beds – to shelter every single one of the Helsinki’s 630,000 residents, and thousands more for anyone visiting or working in the city, and are designed to withstand even a nuclear attack.

“This door can take a blast of up to six bars of pressure, so even a nuclear bomb won’t break it,” says our guide, ‘preparedness instructor’ Varautumisen Opettaja. “The second door is gas and chemical proof. So there could be bombs dropping above and yet children happily playing down here below.”

It means that, if Europe’s worst fears materialise and Moscow’s war in Ukraine spills across the continent to other countries on its eastern border, Finland’s most important city will be able to protect its citizens like no other.

And today Finland announced plans to join NATO “without delay”.

In a joint statement, Finnish President Sauli Niinisto and Prime Minister Sanna Marin said: “Finland must apply for NATO membership without delay. We hope that the national steps still needed to make this decision will be taken rapidly within the next few days.”

A formal application is expected within days and NATO leaders are expected to discuss the bid at their summit in Madrid next month.

It follows Boris Johnson ‘s visit to the country yesterday when he pledged Britain would come to the defence of Sweden and Finland if they were attacked by Russia.

Just days earlier the Mirror was given exclusive access to Helsinki’s secret underground world, through one of the barely-noticeable access points on street level to where, in the event of a Russian assault, the public would be told to make their way.

Despite quietly continuing to carve out the shelters since the 1960s, the minds of Finnish defence chiefs have become more sharply focussed since the invasion of Ukraine.

The war, and Russia’s threats that Nato membership would guarantee the “destruction” of the Finland and Sweden, have revived memories of the Winter War of 1939-40, when the Soviet Union declared war on Finland by unexpectedly dropping bombs on the capital.

Though vastly outnumbered and outgunned, the Finns managed to hold the Russian onslaught, but thousands died and Finland had to give up 12% of its area in a peace settlement.

In the huge caverns that lie past the impenetrable steel blast doors deep underneath Helsinki, the country’s determination to never let that happen again is clear.

What we find as we walk further into Helsinki’s secret underground city makes me wonder if the neglected state of the metal hut on the street above is all part of the clever master plan.

The carved walls of the rooms and halls, linked by a rabbit warren of tunnels, are all immaculate, whitewashed and fitted with an elaborate air filtration systems that can block radioactive particles and other harmful substances.

There are also gas detectors both above and below ground that constantly monitor toxicity levels, underground reservoirs and even a back-up power system that will kick in if the regular electricity supply is cut.

And the bunkers always have enough food and drinking water supplies to house people continuously for up to 14 days.

We stop by a storage room where thousands of emergency beds are piled high, as well as toilets and cubicles that can be set up within hours by volunteer teams who regularly conduct drills.

Varautumisen says the city knows just how much heat and waste will be produced depending on the number of people sheltering here, and can adjust their cooling and disposal systems accordingly. “An average person emits 100 watts of heat a day and expels 2kgs of waste, 1/2kg solid and 1.2kgs liquid,” he explains.

“Even if you have the city’s entire population down here, we have made sure no-one will be uncomfortable. All the waste is taken away. There are even ventilation vents above each of the toilets so the bad smell goes too.”

He adds: “It’s all about showing that we can survive. And if anyone attacks us again, we will survive.”

Finland’s history with Russia is long and complicated. In the early 1800s it was absorbed by the Russian Empire, which it remained a part of until the 1917 Russian Revolution, when the Finns declared their independence.

Russia invaded Finland twice during World War Two, after which Helsinki began to dig into the 1,800 million-year-old bedrock on which the city is built, in preparation for the next time.

Since then, nearly nine million cubic metres of rock has been excavated – more than twice the volume of Wembley stadium.

Some of the spaces, like the Torkelli civil defence shelter we were shown around, are entirely closed to the public. Others though have been allowed to be repurposed, as underground car parks, go-karting tracks, ice rinks and even corporate data centres – as long as they are able to be transformed into shelters with 72 hours’ notice.

One of the bunkers, normally a public swimming pool, can be drained to make way for thousands of beds, something that is tested once a year in a training exercise.

The 15,000 sq m Merihaka shelter in central Helsinki houses three large ‘floorball’ courts – a type of hockey popular in Finland during the long winter months. But it too can be quickly made ready to shelter local residents, and in the event of attack is able to house up to 6,000 people.

At the far end of the vast underground cavern is another blue blast door, leading to a ‘control room’, with large oxygen systems, electricity generators and more piles of beds, toilets and supplies.

Smaller tunnels lead off to other spaces used only by the military, including one passageway which connects to an island used exclusively by the regiment responsible for defending Helsinki.

Jani Pitkanen, commander of the Helsinki Rescue Department, says the bunkers are also connected to outside stores, meaning they can shelter the entire city for “several months”.

As well as 60 large bedrock shelters, under Finnish planning laws new buildings measuring over 1,200 sq m must provide a shelter, bringing the number of bunkers in the city to over 5,500.

“Because of our history, civil defence and preparedness are part of our nature,” says Jani. “There are hundreds of volunteers who are trained as shelter staff. All citizens are advised to always have at least three days supplies of food, water and fuel, as well as supplies of iodine tablets too, for radiation.”

At the same time, the National Emergency Supply Agency (Nesa), collects a levy from all fossil fuel and electricity purchases in Finland, enabling it to stockpile six months’ supplies of grains such as wheat and oats, and different types of fuel such as petrol and diesel.

If it all seems a little over the top, Kimmo Kohuakka, director general of Finland’s Department for Rescue Services, explains: “We still remember what happened here. There is a clear understanding in Finland about how devastating a war can be.

“During the Winter War my three uncles were moved away to Sweden, where they grew up and still live, so even I still feel the consequences. It’s always been the Finnish way to prepare for the worst.”

Eriksen left the pitch conscious and in a stable condition but his sudden collapse just before half-time with no one around him shocked everyone inside Parken Stadium in Copenhagen.

Immediately the players and match officials knew something was terribly wrong and called for medical assistance. The Danish players formed a wall around Eriksen as the medical professionals worked to resuscitate him.

Pictures showed that Eriksen was conscious as he was taken off the field, which was the first moment everyone was able to breathe a sigh of relief.

He has now been transferred to a local hospital in Copenhagen and is reported to be stable in hospital after the terrifying scenes.

UEFA decided that there would be a crisis meeting between the two teams and match officials to decide the next steps, then announced that the match would be restarted.

Upon the restart, in what was an understandably subdued atmosphere, the tempo of the match was very slow indeed.

It was Finland who conjured up the only goal of the game as Pohjanpalo pounced, though Kasper Schmeichel should certainly have done better with the effort which came more or less straight at him.

Denmark could not find a way through for the remainder of a match that will be remembered only for the shocking collapse suffered by Eriksen.

On a day when football was very much put into perspective, everyone just hopes Eriksen makes a full and speedy recovery.

Not only has the Covid-19 pandemic resulted in the deaths of over 2.6 million people worldwide, it has also led to a massive shake up in everyday life for many of us.

But despite the devastating events of the last 12 months and the resulting decline in mental health in a number of destinations, there’s been no change at the top spot when it comes to ranking the happiest country in the world.

For the fourth year running, Finland has come out on top in the annual list powered by data from the Gallup World Poll, with Iceland, Denmark, Switzerland, and the Netherlands following in second, third, fourth and fifth position respectively.

While the United States moved up from 18th to 14th place and the United Kingdom dropped from 13th to 18th, Australia held its 12th place position.

“We need urgently to learn from Covid-19,” said report co-editor Jeffrey Sachs, professor and director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University.

“The pandemic reminds us of our global environmental threats, the urgent need to cooperate, and the difficulties of achieving cooperation in each country and globally.”

It’s worth noting that the World Happiness Report 2021 has been collated slightly differently this time round due to coronavirus.

Not only were researchers unable to complete face-to-face interviews in a number of countries, they also had to switch things up entirely by focusing on the relationship between wellbeing and Covid-19.

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The report has been primarily based on levels of GDP, life expectancy, generosity, social support, freedom and corruption income since it launched in 2012.

Although there have been some changes in the top 10, with Iceland rising two places from fourth to second on the list and Norway dropping from fifth to eighth place, the rankings were strikingly similar to the previous year for the most part, which is viewed as a positive sign.

“Surprisingly there was not, on average, a decline in wellbeing when measured by people’s own evaluation of their lives,” said the University of British Columbia’s professor John Helliwell, who also contributed to the report.

“One possible explanation is that people see Covid-19 as a common, outside threat affecting everybody and that this has generated a greater sense of solidarity and fellow-feeling.”

Other notable movements on the list include Germany, which has jumped from 17th to seventh place in the last year.

Croatia, which was among the destinations where face-to-face interviews were able to take place, rose from number 79 to 23 on the list.

Trust factor

Researchers say it’s no surprise that Finland has retained the top position once again, as the Nordic country has always ranked high when it comes to mutual trust.

Trust is recognised as one of the major factors that helped to protect people during the pandemic, as well as confidence in governments.

For instance, Brazil’s death rate was significantly higher than Singapore’s, a fact the report put partially down to the difference in public trust in the governments of each country.

It also notes that the Americas and Europe had much higher Covid-19 fatalities than East Asia, Australasia, and Africa.

The report suggests that the average age of a country’s population, whether it’s an island, and its proximity to other highly-infected countries were contributing factors in the disparity between death rates globally.

Intriguingly, cultural differences such as whether the head of government was a woman, are also noted as significant considerations when measuring the success of Covid-19 strategies, along with income inequality and knowledge gained from previous epidemics.

“The East Asian experience shows that stringent government policies not only control Covid-19 effectively, but also buffer the negative impact of daily infections on people’s happiness,” said report contributor professor Shun Wang of the Korea Development Institute.

While successful vaccine rollouts in various countries have provided a much-needed boost to many, lockdowns, social distancing, face coverings and travel restrictions are part and parcel of living with the virus, and that’s not even taking the economic implications into account.

As a result, the report found that the decline in mental health was immediate in many countries, including the UK, where the number of mental health problems reported was 47% higher in May 2020 than predicted before Covid-19.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the World Happiness Report 2021 also found that lockdowns and social distancing impacted workforce wellbeing tremendously.

According to the data collected, those unable to work due to furlough or redundancy who said they were lonely at the start of the pandemic became 43% less happy than those who did not feel lonely to begin with.

“My previous research showed how happy workers are 13% more productive,” said professor Jan-Emmanuel De Neve, Director of the Wellbeing Research Centre at the University of Oxford, another contributor to the report.

“This paper proves that happiness is not driven by pay, and that the social connections and a sense of identity are more important.

“These findings point towards a ‘hybrid’ future of work, with a balance between office life and working from home to maintain social connections while ensuring flexibility for workers.”

Of the 149 countries featured on the report, Afghanistan was ranked the most unhappy once again, followed by Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Botswana.

Those at the bottom of the list were mainly underdeveloped countries where issues such as political and armed conflicts are prevalent, or have been in recent times.

“This has been a very challenging year, but the early data also show some notable signs of resilience in feelings of social connection and life evaluations” says report contributor professor Lara Aknin of Simon Fraser University.

World’s happiest countries 2021:

1. Finland

2. Iceland

3. Denmark

4. Switzerland

5. Netherlands

6. Sweden

7. Germany

8. Norway

9. New Zealand

10. Austria

11. Israel

12. Australia

13. Ireland

14. United States

15. Canada

16. Czech Republic

17. Belgium

18. United Kingdom

19. China

20. France