Estonia suffer 0-5 defeat to Israel in UEFA Women's Nations League
The Estonian women's national football team lost 0-5 at home to Israel in their UEFA Women's Nations League encounter at Tartu's Tamme Stadium on Tuesday.
It took Israel just seven minutes to take the lead against Estonia at Tartu's Tamme Stadium thanks to a strike from right-back Meytal Sharabi (ASA Tel Aviv University SC). Ten minutes later, Rahel Shtainshnaider (Hapoel Katamon Jersualem) doubled the visitors' advantage, with Noa Selimhodžić (1. FFC Turbine Potsdam) making it 3-0 on the hour mark.
Substitutes Vital Zina Kats (SC Braga) and Sharon Beck (1. FC Köln) completed the scoring for Israel in the final quarter of an hour.
"It was a tough match. We could have got our game going a bit more than we did today," said 18-year-old Kristina Teern (Flora Tallinn), who was making her Estonian national team debut.
"For the first two goals, we were caught napping. They were silly goals to give away. We have to review what went wrong and see what we can do differently next time. For the other goals, our opponents were able to outplay us with their passing."
Estonia's co-head coach Anastassija Morkovkina put the defeat down to a lack of confidence.
"We certainly didn't expect things to go like that. The first goals came quickly. In fact, we were totally in control of the standard situations up till then. I don't want to make excuses, we played below our capabilities. I know we can play much more confidently and be much better organized," said Morkovkina.
"The girls are definitely very disappointed and everyone is going to look at this game again and analyze their own performances. We just have to come away from this situation better and stronger. That's really, really crucial before the next [international training] camp in October," she added.
Estonia's first UEFA Women's Nations League match against Kazakhstan ended in a goalless draw at the Tamme Stadium last Friday. On Tuesday, Kazakhstan defeated Armenia 2-1 away from home to go top of the group. Estonia are currently in third place with one point from their opening two games, though both Israel and Armenia have a game in hand.
Estonia's next UEFA Women's Nations League match takes place on October 27 when they face Armenia away from home. Four days later, 31 October 31, they face the same opponents in a home tie at Tallinn's A. Le Coq Arena.
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Editor: Michael Cole
