Estonian national team to face Sweden in friendly

The Estonian men's football national team will play against Sweden on Wednesday at 6.40 p.m. The friendly match will be broadcast on ETV2 and ERR's sports portal.

Estonia and Sweden have met on 17 occasions in the past. Three matches have ended in draws, the remaining 14 matches have ended with a win Sweden. The last time the two teams met was in January of 2018, when a friendly held in the United Arab Emirates ended in a 1:1 draw.

"The players know which choices will take the pitch more or less," team manager Martin Reim, who is standing in for regular manager Thomas Häberli during his bout with COVID-19, said.

"I can say there have not been many changes. We still want to try out those who have managed. Some positional changes and a few players will rest but there are no major changes," the acting manager said.

The call-up for the Swedish team was announced on Tuesday. "We know their line-up, the Swedes have put out a lot of men who did not get minutes in qualification matches. It does not make absolutely any difference to us, Swedish football is good and we are dealing with good players. Their style has remained the same for a long time and they do it effectively, regardless of who is on the pitch," Reim said.

Swedish forward and all-time legend Zlatan Ibrahimovic made his return to international football recently but is not in the starting eleven for Wednesday's match. "It is every defender's dream to play against him, especially if you keep a clean sheet. The centerbacks taking the pitch are eagerly waiting for that opportunity. It would be some memory. What plans can you make - we have to play smart, be prepared for everything," the manager said.

Ibrahimovic took part in the warm-up portion of Sweden's training session on Tuesday and then left the training pitch, but Swedish national team manager Janne Anderson said the dangerous striker is just fine. "Ibra will be available [on Wednesday]," Anderson said.

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Editor: Kristjan Kallaste

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