The Estonian men’s national football team will begin a new World Cup qualifying cycle with an away match against Israel in the Hungarian city of Debrecen. The game will kick off at 21:45 Baltic time.
Historically, Israel has the advantage, as Estonia has lost all three previous encounters. In 1999, Estonia suffered a 0-7 defeat away, followed by a 0-1 loss at home in 2006, and a 0-4 defeat in Israel in 2007. Today’s match will be held on neutral ground due to the security situation in Israel.
Estonia will be without their captain, Karol Mets, a Bundesliga player, who is sidelined with an injury. Robert Rocco Shein is also unavailable due to injury. Both were expected to be in the starting lineup, so other players will need to step up. However, Karl Hein, the second Estonian player in the top five European leagues, is ready to give Israel a challenge, as the bookmakers consider them favorites.
In World Cup qualifying history, Estonia has never finished higher than fourth place, achieving 17 points in the 2006 qualifiers, behind Portugal, Slovakia, and the aggressor. Their most recent positive campaign was in 2018, where they finished behind Belgium, Greece, and Bosnia, but ahead of Cyprus.
Estonia’s drawn group is particularly tough, featuring Norway, Israel, Germany or Italy, and Moldova from the last pot. As a result, hopes of qualifying or even finishing third in the group may seem like a distant dream, although there are some exciting young players emerging in the ranks.
Following this match, Estonia will travel to Moldova, where they will play against the Moldova national team on Matchday 2. Moldova is set to open their World Cup qualifying campaign with a match against Norway today.
Estonian National team for the upcoming games:
Goalkeepers
Karl Jakob Hein (13.04.2002) – Real Valladolid (ESP) 36/0
Matvei Igonen (02.10.1996) – Plovdivi Botev (BUL) 15/0
Karl Andre Vallner (28.02.1998) – Tallinna FCI Levadia 4/0
Defenders
Joonas Tamm (02.02.1992) – Plovdivi Botev (BUL) 64/4
Maksim Paskotši (19.01.2003) – Zürichi Grasshopper (SUI) 33/0
Märten Kuusk (05.04.1996) – GKS Katowice (POL) 33/0
Rasmus Peetson (03.05.1995) – Tallinna FCI Levadia 19/1
Michael Schjønning-Larsen (02.02.2001) – Tallinna FCI Levadia 8/0
Kristo Hussar (28.06.2002) – Tallinna FC Flora 4/0
Joseph Saliste (10.04.1995) – Paide Linnameeskond 4/0
Tanel Tammik (14.06.2002) – Tallinna FCI Levadia 0/0
Midfielders
Mattias Käit (29.06.1998) – FC Rapid (ROU) 56/8
Vlasiy Sinyavskiy (27.11.1996) – FC Slovacko (CZE) 39/1
Martin Miller (25.09.1997) – Paide Linnameeskond 37/2
Markus Poom (27.02.1999) – Tallinna FC Flora 29/0
Mihkel Ainsalu (08.03.1996) – Tallinna FCI Levadia 21/0
Markus Soomets (02.03.2000) – FC Den Bosch (NED) 15/0
Kevor Palumets (21.11.2002) – Podbrezova Železiarne (SVK) 10/1
Ioan Yakovlev (19.01.1998) – Panionios (GRE) 6/1
Patrik Kristal (12.11.2007) – FC Köln (GER) 2/0
Dimitri Jepihhin (28.10.2005) – AS Trencin (SVK) 0/0
Forwards
Henri Anier (17.12.1990) – Lee Man (HKG) 99/23
Rauno Sappinen (23.01.1996) – Tallinna FC Flora 55/12
Alex Matthias Tamm (24.07.2001) – Ljubljana Olimpija (SVN) 12/2
Robi Saarma (20.05.2001) – Paide Linnameeskond 5/0