Estonian football turns tides in 3-0 win over Georgia
The Estonian national team scored three past Georgia in head coach Magnus Pehrsson's biggest win since taking charge in 2013. Estonia was facing a record low-scoring year until the game in Tallinn on Wednesday evening, having only scored six goals in 2015, while conceding eight.
Three FC Flora players, Estonian champions 2015, made their national debut in the game: Nikita Baranov and Rauno Sappinen for Estonia, and Zakaria Beglarišvili for Georgia. Beglarišvili, 25, has been playing in Estonia for the past five years and is one of the driving forces in Flora.
Pehrsson experimented with a mixture of youth and experience, but it failed to pay dividends in the first half.
Ats Purje opened the scoring on the 60th minute by turning two defenders to make amends for wasting an easy chance against Switzerland in Estonia's previous game.
Artur Pikk scored his first for the national team six minutes later and Maksim Gussev, also a Flora youngster, scored his first on the 88-minute mark. It was only Gussev's second game for the national team. Pikk played his ninth game.
Estonia will face St. Kitts and Nevis on November 17 in Tallinn in the year's last game. Captain Ragnar Klavan will return to his club side while goalkeeper Sergei Pareiko joins the team for his last match for the national team.
Editor: J.M. Laats