The first match of our National Team in the mini-tournament in Estonia took place yesterday. Igor Dobrovolsky's team was defeated by the National Team of Estonia by the score 1:0. We bring to your attention the reportage about the yesterday's match from the Estonian press.
In the last match of this year the National Team of Estonia met with the National Team of Moldova at the Lillekula Stadium. The match ended by the score 1:0 to the National Team of Estonia.
"When National Teams meet, it doesn't matter who scores the goal, - said Vladimir Voskoboynikov, the author of the only goal. The main thing is a victory". As our National coach Tarmo Ryuitlee said, in whole he was satisfied with the match.
"During the most part of the match the initiative was on our side, - said Ryuitlee - But most of all, the win made me glad, of course".
According to the coach's words, the players were in the mood to play for the win also because they spent the last match this year at the Lillekula Stadium.
"We firmly decided to win, - added Ragnar Clavan - We wanted to demonstrate that we could play football".
In the centre of the field
Although the beginning of the match was rather inert, our players were evidently more active. The first goal-scoring opportunity was created on the 15-th minute when
Constantin Vasiliev made the powerful pass to Voskoboynikov but Moldova national goalkeeper Stanislav Namasco managed to intercept the ball. Two minutes later Vasiliev passed the ball to central defender Raio Pijroya but after his header the ball flew above the goal.
"We had many goal-scoring opportunities but we didn't manage to realize all of them. It's a football", - noticed Ryuitlee.
In the first half the most dangerous moment occurred near the Moldova National Team’s goal on the 30th minute when Ioel Lindpere made the pass to Ragnar Clavan but then after kicking with his right foot the ball flew in the sky. "Yes, the shot was unsuccessful", - said left-footed Clavan. During the first 45 minutes of the match the Moldavian players didn't display themselves in any way. No dangerous situations were created near the Estonian National Team’s goal that was defended by Arthur Kotenko and our players had the full possibility to carry out the combinations in the centre of the field.
"The National Team of Moldova should be stronger than the National Team of Latvia but it seemed to us that we played against the National Team of Andorra", - said Voskoboynikov. The second half of the match also began with the attack of our National Team and on the 56th minute Voskoboynikov's hour of triumph came - he scored the goal to Stanislav Namasco. Having become the hero of the day, Vladimir Voskoboynikov played 11 times for his National Team but didn't manage to score any goal before that. According to the player's words, this goal would be especially memorable as it was scored in the match against the "inconvenient" opponent.
Not the amateurs at all
During the last minutes of the match the visitors activated and tried to equalize the score. We would remind you that in the match against the National Team of Latvia our team conceded the goal during the last minutes. The same danger was yesterday when Kotenko, who was bored before that, proved the Estonian National Team’s goal was in his safe hands. During the last 15 minutes of the match the initiative passed into the hands of the visitors. "Moldavian players aren't amateurs at all judging to the clubs in what they play", - expressed Ryuitlee his opinion about the National Team of Moldova which occupied the 76th place in the world football rating. - So, there was nothing surprising in what the initiative passed to them. Fortunately, we didn't allow them to score". After the match many players talked they had to play in not very good conditions - the field was rigid because of the cold weather. "The field, in contrast to what had been in the match against Latvia, was in the very bad condition, - said Voskoboynikov. - Although I put on the boots with 6 studs it was still difficult to play."
