Estonia Under-21s were beaten 6-2 by Iceland away from home in Thursday’s European Championship qualifier, with Flora defenders Andreas Vaher and Oscar Pihela both named in the starting line-up.
Iceland took the lead already in the second minute when Estonia lost possession deep in their own half and Daníel Guðjohnsen finished from close range. Estonia recovered well and levelled after 35 minutes, as Maksimilian Skvortsov delivered a corner and Kristjan Kriis guided a header into the net.
The hosts restored their lead in first-half stoppage time when Viktor Daðason was played through and finished one-on-one. Iceland then took control after the break, with Daðason scoring again from a corner in the 51st minute before Guðjohnsen made it 4-1 five minutes later with a powerful strike from a tight angle.
Hilmir Mikaelsson and Helgi Fróði Ingason added further goals in the 73rd and 79th minutes to stretch Iceland’s advantage. Estonia had the final word in stoppage time, when Mihhail Orlov worked the ball well down the right side of the penalty area and Ramol Sillamaa converted at the far post.
Head coach Jani Sarajärvi said Estonia had done enough in possession to take something from the match, but felt their defending and pressing left them exposed. He pointed to the timing of Iceland’s second goal before the break as a key moment.
“We need to analyse the match and draw conclusions about what we can do better in future,” Sarajärvi told Soccernet after the final whistle. “We scored two goals. That should be enough to win points, but then we conceded too many.
“The first half was close to finishing 1-1 and we should have gone into the dressing room with that score. We tried to press the opponent towards the end of the half and the game opened up, then they scored. The same happened a lot in the second half. Because we were behind, we made our press more aggressive, but the opponent took advantage of it. I think that is the main reason the game ended like this.”
Despite the heavy loss, Sarajärvi said there were positives to take from Estonia’s display with the ball. “It is not only the two goals,” he said. “There were other positive things as well. I liked how we played in possession. Often our play with the ball was good enough. Our play without the ball is the problem and it needs to be solved quickly.”
Estonia remain sixth in their qualifying group with two points from six matches. Their next fixture is away to Switzerland on Tuesday, 31 March, while Iceland moved top of the section with 11 points from six games.
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Sources:
https://soccernet.ee/artikkel/pallita-tegutsemist-kirunud-sarajarvi-skoorisime-punktide-teenimiseks-piisavalt-kuid-lasime-liiga-palju
