Finland’s players have received a good luck message from the country’s president as they head into what coach Markku Kanerva describes as “the biggest match in the history of Finnish football.”

Finland plays Belgium on Monday at the European Championship and likely needs a point to qualify for the knockout stage in its first appearance at a major soccer tournament.

Finland defender Jere Uronen says among the “great amount of messages” from well-wishers was a personal greeting from Finnish President Sauli Niinistö.

Uronen says “just the fact of being here and playing here is for me and many of us the best time of our professional careers and we don’t want it to end.”