Estonia Loses 3-0 to Netherlands
The Estonian national football team had to accept a 3-0 defeat against the Netherlands, after holding the hosts for the first 45 minutes in Amsterdam today, in a football World Cup qualifier.
The Netherlands, who started the game having won all previous four games in the qualifiers, had two goals rightly ruled out for off-side in the first 45 minutes and while Estonia had a number of half-chances as the Netherlands launched attack after attack, the teams left for the break tied at 0-0.
Konstantin Vassiljev's two sharp shots on goal at the very end of the first half meant that the visitors had more shots on target than the Dutch team, despite Estonia controlling the ball less than 20 percent of the game.
The inevitable arrived on the 47th minute when Rafael van der Vaart slotted home between two defenders 10 meters from the goal.
The goal did not calm orange nerves and the home fans had to wait another 24 minutes for the second, when on the 71st minute Robin van Persie tapped in from a few meters.
Estonia had quality in defense during the first half, but seemed to have exchanged it for more quality in attack for the second 45 minutes as head coach Tarmo Rüütli looked to have been going for a win.
Estonia’s golden chance arrived on the 78th minute when Martin Vunk was played one-on-one against the Dutch goalkeeper, but shot just over.
It was to be the Netherlands team who would kill the game off, when Ruben Schaken scored the home team’s third in the 84th minute.
Estonia now lies seven points from a qualifying spot with half the games played and has little chance in making the final tournament in Brazil next year.
Andorra will travel to Tallinn on Tuesday for Estonia's next qualifier. ERR News will add a live feed on our website for the game, set to start at 19:00 local time.