The Friis era almost started perfectly for Finland, when Benjamin Kallman took aim from the edge of the penalty area after 44 seconds, but Henry Bonello got down well to deny him.
However, Malta were keen to impress under their new boss, Emilio De Leo – Joseph Mbong cut in from the right and sent a fizzing effort across goal and wide, before Alex Satariano did the same from the left and forced Lukas Hradecky to bat the chance away.
The home side continued to threaten Hradecky’s goal, only for the best chance to that point to fall to the Eagle Owls after half an hour when an Oliver Antman cross was met firmly by the head of Joel Pohjanpalo.
Bonello made the save, but somehow Benjamin Kallman sent the rebound over the crossbar with an empty net to aim at.
But where Kallman failed, Antman succeeded seven minutes later – this time it was Kallman who took a strike on from range and once again Bonello palmed the ball into danger, and Antman dispatched the rebound.
Malta are ranked 99 places lower than their opponents, but were again causing a threat early in the second half, and Finland had Robert Ivanov to thank for a vital block on Paul Mbong’s shot following a swift counter-attack.
That was one of a number of important interventions from the visitors’ defence as Malta kept probing through Satariano, Ilyas Chouaref and Matthew Guillaumier.
The opportunity the Reds were looking for to end their six-match losing H2H run came with 15 minutes to play, when Kyrian Nwoko was sent through on goal with just Hradecky to beat, only to drag his effort wide.
That miss became more costly two minutes later, when Kurt Shaw was sent off for a nasty challenge on Kaan Kairinen.
The red card all but ended hopes of an equaliser, ending Malta’s four-match unbeaten run, as Finland maintained a run of winning at least one World Cup qualifier in each campaign going back to 1966.