Estonia-Andorra friendly ends goalless
Estonia's senior men's football friendly against Andorra ended without score at the A. Le Coq Arena in Tallinn Tuesday evening.
The friendly, played before a crowd of around 4,500, also formed a testimonial for two long-serving players for Estonia: Former captain and midfielder Konstantin Vassiljev, 41m, and defender Taijo Teniste, 37, the latter marking his 100th match for the national team.
The two teams have faced each other a dozen times since 1996, with Estonia winning each time, most recently in June 2016, also a friendly and also played in Tallinn, when Estonia prevailed 2:0.
Vassiljev himself had played against Andorra three times, Teniste twice, ahead of Tuesday's game.
Andorra were going into the match off the back of a 2:0 Group K World Cup qualifier defeat away against England.
Estonia had held off football titans Italy for the entire first half in their Group I FIFA World Cup 2026 qualifier in Bergamo last week, only to succumb to five goals from the Italians in the second period.
On the Tuesday night, Estonia had plenty of chances towards the end, but failed to convert any of these.
Estonia started off energetically and earned a couple of early free kicks, taken by Vassiljev. While hosts created several chances in the first half-hour, no truly dangerous situations arose for the visitors.
The other highlight of the first half was manager Jürgen Henn sending Edgar Tur and Mattias Käit onto the pitch, to substitute for the two players, Teniste and Vassiljev, being honored that evening. The pair left the field of play to rapturous applause.
In the 41st minute, Andorra striker Guillaume Lopez got past the Estonian defenders and took a shot, but Estonia's 'keeper and captain Karl Hein stood firm.
Then in the 44th minute, Andorra were awarded a free kick from a good position, but again Hein stopped another shot, again from Lopez, and the teams headed to the dressing rooms for halftime with the score at 0:0.
Estonia began pressing again in the second half and managed to create some sharpness, but once more struggled with finishing. In the 84th minute, team youngster Patrik Kristal, who plays for German second-tier Regionalliga West side 1. FC Köln II, came on and produced perhaps the most dangerous shot of the second half. However, the ball rolled just wide of the goalpost for the last chance of regular time.
Even in stoppage time, Estonia found themselves with several more promising chances, but both the crossbar and Andorra goalkeeper Iker Alvarez kept these out too.
The next match for the Estonians is their return Group I World Cup qualifier against Italy, on October 11 at home this time.
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Editor: Andrew Whyte
