Meistriliiga week 35: Ten man Flora rescue a point

Flora 1-1 Trans

Flora came from 1-0 down with ten men to secure a vital point against Trans at the A.Le Coq Arena on Saturday. This was always going to be Flora's biggest test in the run in and a game that could have diverted the title to Kalju. Flora were behind within 15 minutes as veteran striker Maksim Gruznov was set free by Sergei Leontovitš and rounded Aiko Orgla in the Flora goal to finish. Flora looked to be in deep trouble as Henri Anier was sent off for a second bookable offence on 65 minutes but they were given a lifeline when Aleksandrs Abramenko bundled into Markus Jürgenson as he broke into the penalty box. The spot kick was awarded and Valeri Minkenen converted to level the scores. The game finished 1-1. 

As expected, Kalju won comfortably against FC Ajax Lasnamäe - a 7-0 win with goals coming from Hidetoshi Wakui, Tarmo Neemelo (2), Eino Puri, Alo Bärengrub, a Šamil Mussajev own goal and wonderfully named Kouakou Fabrice Elysee Kouadio. Paide defeated Viljandi 2-0 to secure a respectable league finish of sixth and Tammeka won by the same scoreline at Kuressaare to stay seventh. Two goals from Igor Subbotin gave Levadia a 2-0 win in Sillamäe as they look likely to finish fourth. 


Flora play Viljandi at the A.Le Coq Arena tomorrow night where a win for Flora will see them retain their hold on the Meistriliiga title, their ninth success overall. 

Meistriliiga week 34: Kalju keep pressure on Flora

Kalju 3-0 Kuressaare

Kalju scored a comfortable 3-0 win over Kuressaare at Hiiu on Saturday to keep the title race alive at least for another week. Juri Jevdokimov opened the scoring just before half time with a chest and volley from the edge of the box. Tarmo Neemelo made it twenty for the season with a tap in on 49 minutes and Hidetoshi Wakui wrapped things up with a near post finish two minutes from time. Flora had to come from behind to win 2-1 at home to Paide. The visitors looked on course for an upset after Tiit Tikenberg's 54th minute goal, but goals from Henri Anier and Zakaria Beglarišvili gave Flora a nervy but vital win. 

Flora host Trans next Saturday, who have just fallen out of the title race courtesy of a 2-0 defeat at home to Levadia at the weekend. Trans though would love to have a say in where the title goes and are well capable of doing so, especially now the pressure is off. 

Tammeka 2-0 Sillamäe 

Tammeka won 2-0 at against Sillamäe in Tartu. Sillamäe had been reduced to nine men following two straight red cards for nasty challenges. Albert Prosa scored two late goals to give Tammeka the points. Viljandi thumped FC Ajax 8-0 in the other game of the day. FC Ajax will be delighted to see the Esiliiga again next season. JK Tallinn Kalev are currently sitting top of the Esiliiga with the excellently named FC Infonet in second just two points behind with two games remaining. Kalev were relegated from the Meistriliiga in 2009 after three seasons in the top flight. Infonet only formed in 2010 following the merger of two local Tallinn teams, Atletik and Bercy.  

Meistriliiga week 33 - Flora not there yet

Goals from Saturday 15th October

As Estonia came back down to earth following the national side’s qualification for the Euro 2012 play offs, the Meistriliiga continued with matches on Saturday and Tuesday and with the title race not quite yet decided.

Flora’s 11-0 demolition of FC Ajax on Saturday (Flora have scored 33 goals against the bottom of the league side this season) was coupled with a slightly disappointing goalless draw against Tammeka in Tartu on Tuesday. Kalju’s double of 3-0 wins against Sillamäe and Viljandi means they gain some ground and Flora, but Martin Reim’s side remain favourites with four games to play and a game in hand over Kalju. Flora’s trickiest remaining fixture will be welcoming Trans to the A.Le Coq Arena on 29^th October.

Trans themselves are not out of the title race after a very late winner from Aleksandrs Cekulajevs gave them the points at Paide. A win for Trans over Flora would make things interesting going into the final week.

Kuressaare’s recent good form continued with their third win in four games at home to Viljandi – Märten Pajunurm scoring a brace for the islanders. Paide also picked up a very good win against Levadia at Maarjamäe, Mait Nõmme scoring a first half winner for Paide.

Tammeka 0-0 Flora

Recent results

Saturday 15^th October

Kuressaare 3-0 Viljandi

Sillamäe 0-3 Kalju

FC Ajax Lasnamäe 0-11 Flora

Paide 0-1 Trans

Levadia 3-0 Tammeka

Tuesday 18^th October

Kalju 3-0 Viljandi

Levadia 0-1 Paide

Tammeka 0-0 Flora

Remaining fixtures

Flora

Paide (H) – 22^nd October

Trans (H) – 29^th October

Viljandi (H) – 1^st November

Viljandi (A) – 5^th November

JK Kalju

Kuressaare (H) – 22^nd October

FC Ajax (A) – 29^th October

Paide (H) – 5^th November

Narva Trans

Levadia (H) – 22^nd October

Flora (A) – 29^th October

Sillamäe (H) – 5^th November 

Estonia seal Euro 2012 play off spot

Northern Ireland 1-2 Estonia

Estonia have cemented their first ever play off spot for a major tournament following their 2-1 win over Northern Ireland in Belfast last Friday, coupled with Slovenia's 1-0 win over nearest rivals Serbia in Maribor last night.

Konstantin Vassiljev came off the bench to score two late goals giving Estonia a win in their final group game over Northern Ireland. Steven Davis had given the Northern Irish the lead from close range midway through the first half. Vassiljev replaced Tarmo Kink on 65 minutes and then won and converted a penalty (initial contact looked to be outside the box, but we'll let that go) to level the scores. His 84th minutes winner was a belter from 25 yards into the top corner as the Northern Irish defence had stopped, appealing for offside. The linesman had flagged believing a forward pass had come from an Estonian boot, but the referee was well placed to see that it was in fact a ricochet off a Northern Irish player and correctly ignored the flag. 

Estonia were still reliant on Serbia slipping up against Slovenia last night. Serbia needed to win as a draw would have left them level on points with Estonia but with an inferior head to head record. Dare Vrsic's goal for Slovenia on the stroke of half time gave Serbia an uphill task and they could not find an equaliser, let alone a winner, leading to celebrations across Estonia. They won't even be too fussed about their 0-2 friendly defeat against Ukraine in Tallinn last night.

The play offs will be seeded (based on performance in recent tournaments and qualification campaigns), meaning that Estonia can expect a tough tie. The final seedings are to be finalised today as they calculate the final scorings, but the seeded teams will almost certainly be Croatia, Portugal and Czech Republic, along with one from Republic of Ireland, Turkey and Bosnia-Herzegovina. 

The draw for the play offs is this Thursday (12pm GMT) and the matches will take place on either 11/12th November and 15th November. The draw for the Euro finals takes place on Friday 2nd December at 5pm (GMT). 


Final Group C table

	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
Italy	10	8	2	0	20	2	+18	26
Estonia	10	5	1	4	15	14	+1	16
Serbia	10	4	3	3	13	12	+1	15
Slovenia	10	4	2	4	11	7	+4	14
Northern Ireland	10	2	3	5	9	13	-4	9
Faroe Islands	10	1	1	8	6	26	-20	4

Meistrilliga rounds 30/31: Flora in the driving seat

Flora 3-0 Levadia

Flora have stolen a march in the race for the Meistriliiga title - their 3-0 win against rivals Levadia on Saturday was coupled with a 3-2 win for Trans over Kalju in Narva. An Aleksandrs Cekulajevs hat trick, including an injury time winner, may have caused irreparable damage to Kalju's title bid as second half goals from Nikolai Mašitšev, Andre Frolov and Hannes Anier gave Flora a comfortable sounding win. Wins for both Flora and Kalju last night has done little to change to outlook of the table. 

Kuressaare picked up two good wins to move them within a point of Viljandi in eighth. Saturday's win over FC Ajax included a late six minute hat trick from Martti Pukk who followed that up with both goals in their 2-1 win over Paide last night. Cekulajevs's five goals for Trans in their drubbing of FC Ajax has moved him past the 40 goal mark for the season - he becomes only the second player in Meistriliiga history to pass that milestone following Tarmo Neemelo's 41 goals for TVMK in 2005. 

Round 30 results - Saturday 24th September

Flora 3-0 Levadia

Viljandi 0-3 Tammeka

FC Ajax 3-5 Kuressaare

Trans 3-2 Kalju

Paide 0-1 Sillamäe 

Round 31 results - Tuesday 27th September

Kuressaare 2-1 Paide

Sillamäe 0-6 Flora

FC Ajax 0-12 Trans

Levadia 2-0 Viljandi

Tammeka 0-1 Kalju

An Englishman in Tallinn

Originally from Lancashire, Richard Barnwell has been in Estonia for almost ten years in a career that has seen him play for some of the top Estonian clubs. Now involved in youth coaching at Levadia Tallinn, he kindly took time out to answer some questions and give an interesting first hand insight to life in Estonian football:

Hi Richard. Firstly, how did you end up in Estonia? Who have you played for in your time there?

I first came to Estonia in February 2002. The temperatures and snow gave me a great introduction to the area’s climate. The only person I knew here was my then girlfriend who I met in New York, where I lived for a year, so I decided to play football just to meet a few other like minded people. The team I joined won promotion to the First League via the play-offs, which is just below the Meistriliiga.   During the off season I received a phone call from Levadia and ended up playing for them. I played in 2003 and 2004 and also had a loan spell in Iceland.  I managed to play twice in the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds and started to coach for the club. A couple of years ago a few old Levadia players were in the Nõmme Kalju team that won promotion to the Meistriliiga and I played for them in 2008.

How have you found playing in the Meistriliiga? Who is the best player you have played with?

I remember we played Leicester City in a friendly the summer that they were relegated form the Premier League. They had Dion Dublin, Keith Gillespie, Matt Elliott etc so they were much faster and stronger than us but our players had more technical ability. This is something that the Estonian youth system is working on now. Towards the end of the 90s they took on the Dutch approach due to the national team boss [the national team had seven years of Dutch management under Arno Pijpers and Jelle Goes] but now their main focus is now on physically strong players.

The best player I’ve played with is tough.  I have been lucky to play with or against most of Estonia’s top players.

You’re involved in youth coaching at Levadia - are you optimistic about the future of Estonian football given the quality of players (and other coaches) you work with?

Absolutely. The potential is there and the results of the youth teams are getting better and better. The key for Estonia is to get young players out to top European clubs as soon as possible so they can experience as high a level as possible.

The Meistriliiga has some of the lowest attendances in Europe for a country’s top division  - can you see its profile being raised given the pull of moves abroad for the best players and the dominance of the Premier League/La Liga/Bundesliga in terms of viewing?

Estonia was home to the very last Soviet Union Basketball champions so football was always a secondary sport here but this has changed and attendances are rising. Nõmme Kalju and their approach was a breath of fresh air in 2008 with their concentrated focus on marketing and other clubs are working hard to catch up.  Other country's top teams generate revenue from TV deals and gate receipts and as both of these are low in Estonia nobody has the money to play top players big salaries.

Despite this, the amount of first team football young players get at top Estonian clubs can only be a good thing?

I agree to certain extent but the danger is they get used to that level and have very little exposure, especially when they leave the U21 team and don’t make the full Estonian team.

Henri Anier and Albert Prosa are both among the Meistriliiga top scorers at the age of 20 and have made their international debuts this season – do you have any other tips in terms of younger players to keep an eye on?

There are quite of lot of potentials but it wouldn’t be fair to label them too soon. In my U14 team I’ve had 6-7 players playing in the Estonian U15 team so I’ll be working hard to get them some exposure later this year.

The Estonian national team has done well in Euro 2012 qualifying (the Faroes game aside!), with a win in Serbia and two excellent wins against Slovenia and Northern Ireland - do you think this is a reflection of the improvement in standard of coaching of players from a young age in recent years?

I think there is definitely an improvement in coaching in Estonia. Urmas Kirs (former Estonian legend) heads up the coaching system here and there are several Pro Licence holders. But for the national team they have some great young guys as you mentioned but they need to have all their players fit to compete with other nations as there isn’t great depth in the squad.  I was lucky to play for Tarmo Rüütli at Levadia and he is by far the best coach in the country. His experience is key to all the positive results they have.

Flora or Kalju for the title? Or a late surge from Levadia?

I think Levadia are just too far away now. They have had a change of coach mid-season and I would say they miss a goal scorer.  My head says Flora but as neutral I want to see Kalju cause a surprise. Levadia play both teams again and it should go to the wire.

And lastly, what’s your favourite and least favourite thing about living in Estonia?

The best thing is the quality of life here in the capital. The worst is the darkness in winter.


Thanks Richard!

Meistriliiga week 29 - Still tight at the top

Kalju 2-1 Viljandi, plus other goals

Flora and Kalju both won at the weekend to remain level on points at the top of the Meistriliiga table. Flora won 4-1 in the early kick off in Tartu against Tammeka to put the pressure on Kalju. Flora raced into a 2-0 lead within 25 minutes through goals from Nikolai Masitsev and captain Karl Palatu. Albert Prosa continued his good season, reducing the deficit with a finish from within the six yard box on the hour. Flora pulled away again though with further goals from Hannes Anier and Zakaria Beglarisvili to make the scoreline more comfortable. Kalju made slightly harder work of Viljandi, despite being 2-0 up with 20 minutes with goals from Tarmo Neemelo and Alo Barengrub. But Andrei Veis's goal for Viljandi just before half time meant the rest of the game was not as comfortable for Kalju as it could have been. 

Tammeka 1-4 Flora

Elsewhere, there were wins for Trans over Kuressaare and for Sillamae over FC Ajax, while Paide picked up a good point in a goalless draw at Levadia. This weekend sees Flora and Levadia meet again at the A.Le Coq Arena while Kalju face Trans in Narva in a set of games that could have a major say in where the title ends up.