Estonia: we represent the opponent of the national team of Ukraine in a friendly match
On the eve of the last qualifying match for Euro 2020, against Serbia, the national team of Ukraine will meet Estonia today in a friendly match.
General Information
As of October 2019, Estonians ranked 104th in the official FIFA rankings. The Estonian national team played its first match in history on October 17, 1920 in Helsinki against Finland. The match ended in a crushing defeat of the Estonians - 0: 6.
The Estonian national team has never qualified for the finals of the World and European Championships. However, she has several high-profile victories in the qualifiers for these tournaments. Thus, in the qualification for Euro 2012, the Estonians defeated Serbia (3: 1), Slovenia (2: 1) and Northern Ireland twice (4: 1, 2: 1). As a result, the team reached the playoffs, where they lost to Ireland (0: 4, 1: 1).
In friendly matches, the Baltics defeated Russia (2002, 2: 1), Bolivia (2011, 2: 1) and Uruguay (2011, 2: 0).
Among its fans, the Estonian national team has the nickname "Blue".
The composition of the national team of Estonia
Goalkeepers: Marco Meerits (Narva Trans), Serhiy Lepmets (Levadia), Matvey Igonen (Lillestrom, Norway).
Defenders: Merten Kuusk, Gert Kams (both Flora), Tayo Teniste (Brann, Norway), Karol Mets (AIC, Sweden), Ken Callaste (GCS Tychy, Poland), Arthur Pick (Medz, Poland) ), Nikita Baranov (Alashkert, Armenia), Joonas Tamm (Lillestrom, Norway).
Midfielders: Sander Puri ("Nimme Kalju"), Henry Anier ("Suwon", Korea), Ilya Antonov ("Ararat", Armenia), Matthias Keith ("Domzale", Slovenia), Frank Livak, Mihkel Ainsalu, Vladislav Krejda, Konstantin (all - "Flora").
Forwards: Serhiy Zenyov (Shakhtar, Kazakhstan), Henrik Oyama (Medz, Poland), Martin Miller, Eric Sorga (both Flora).
Clubs from the domestic championship have the largest representation in the Estonian national team. They delegated 11 performers to the team at once. Three players each represent the championships of Norway and Poland, two - the championship of Armenia.
Head Coach
The Estonian national team is led by Karel Volaid, a 42-year-old specialist who took office only on July 3 this year. Under the guidance of their new coach, the team played four matches. In one of them the Estonians drew, and in three they lost.
Karel Volaid began his coaching career in 2002. He mainly worked in Estonia, playing in the youth and youth national teams of the country. The only experience of working abroad for the specialist was in 2009, when he served as assistant coach of the Finnish club TPS. In 2010, Volaid headed Tallinn's Nimme Kalju. He was invited to the first national team from the helm of the Estonian U-23 national team.
Leader
The real leader of the current Estonian national team is 35-year-old midfielder Konstantin Vasiliev. He is currently defending the colors of Tallinn's Flora. In general, during the years of his career Vasiliev played for Polish "Piast" and "Jagiellonia", Russian "Amkar", Slovenian "Koper" and "Nafta" and Estonian "Levadia" (Tallinn).
To date, Vasiliev has played 117 matches for the national team, scoring 25 goals. He is a three-time champion of Estonia, three-time winner of the Cup and Super Cup of the country. He was named Footballer of the Year in Estonia three times (2010, 2011, 2013). Knight of the Estonian Order of the White Star IV degree.
Among the advantages of the midfielder can be noted a strong long-range shot and the ability to give a sharp pass in time.
Relations with Ukraine
Estonia and Ukraine have met four times. Two of these matches were official and two were friendly. The Ukrainians won all of them, and the opponent could not score a single goal. In the qualifying tournament for Euro-1996, the national team of Ukraine won 3-0 in Kyiv and 1-0 in Tallinn. In the control match in October 2011 in the capital of Estonia, the blue and yellows celebrated success with a score of 2: 0, and in May 2012 in the Austrian Kufstein - 4: 0.
It will be recalled that a friendly match between the national teams of Ukraine and Estonia will take place on November 14 in Zaporizhia at the Slavutych-Arena stadium (starting at 19.00 p.m.).