Poland thus fell from first to third place in the qualifying group, surpassed by both Finland and the Netherlands.
It was over the weekend that the Polish Football Association announced that Barcelona star Robert Lewandowski would be stripped of the team captain role by national team coach Michal Probierz.
Instead, midfielder Piotr Zielinski is the new captain.
A message that made Lewandowski furious and on X, Poland's record scorer, 85 goals in 158 national team matches, wrote that he "has decided to stop playing for the national team as long as he (Probierz) is in charge”.
Lewandowski would have been needed in Helsinki where a penalty goal from Joel Pohjanpalo, Palermo, and a 2-0 goal from Benjamin Källman sank Poland.
Arsenal player Jakub Kiwior forced in a reduction in the 69th minute, but no closer than that did Poland come.
Finland got new hope thanks to the victory and tops the faltering table with seven points played on four matches ahead of the Netherlands, six points after two matches, and Poland, six points after three matches.
In the 72nd minute, the match was interrupted due to an illness in the audience.
According to Helsingin Sanomat, heart and lung rescue was performed in the stands. Both teams' doctors participated in the rescue work together with security guards and ambulance nurses.
At 23.00 (midnight in Helsinki) the match was resumed after the affected person had been taken to hospital.
