Estonia suffer heavy loss in Turkey

ATATURK, Turkey – The Estonian national men’s football team has not been able to break out of a losing drought on Wednesday evening, falling to hosts Turkey 3-0.

Just over six months ago Estonia football was riding on a wave of optimism following wins over Uruguay and Serbia, along with a draw, also against the latter. Estonia was being considered as being in very real contention to qualify for next year’s European Championship in Poland.

But following a shock 2-0 loss away to Faroe Islands on June 7, Estonia’s chances of qualifying were dealt a major blow and along with it, the Baltic nation’s confidence appears to have evaporated.

Following on from their loss to the Faroe Islands, Estonia travelled to South America in June to play a return friendly against Uruguay as well as a second match against Chile. It would however be a disappointing trip for the Estonians who conceded seven goals while failing to claim any.

And the disappointment was not about to end in Turkey. Against a team that they will become familiar with as they look ahead to qualifying for the 2014 Football World Cup (Estonia and Turkey have been drawn to play in the same qualifying group), Estonia struggled to make any real impression on the game.

Turkeytook just eight minutes to claim their first goal when Ragnar Klavan was penalized inside the box. Turkish captain Emre Belozoglu stepped up to the mark, hitting from the penalty spot to put his side up 1-0.

Before the half was over Colin Kazim had all but put the result beyond doubt, scoring in the 28th minute and again in the 35th.

Estonia’s best opportunity arose in the 53rd minute when Konstantin Vassiljev was gifted a free kick but his shot was easily saved by the Turkish keeper, Sinan Bolat.