This Tuesday, the Estonian men's national football team take on Lithuania in the final of the 2024 Baltic Cup. Team captain Karol Mets (FC St. Pauli) says new head coach Jürgen Henn demands a lot from his players helm but also gives them the freedom to express themselves on the pitch.

On Saturday, Estonian brushed aside the Faroe Islands 4-1 in the semi-finals of the Baltic Cup. The match was also notable for being new head coach Jürgen Henn 's first in charge following the departure of Thomas Häberli.

"Yes, you can really say it was a successful start," Estonian men's national team captain Karol Mets told ERR. "We didn't get a rush of blood in front of the opponents' goal. We managed to come back into the game and I think in the end the 4-1 win was well deserved."

"I think we played a solid game. There's still a long way to go, it was just the beginning and there's still a lot to improve."

"We definitely had bad spells where we were under pressure from the opposition for five to seven minutes in both the first and second halves. When we won the ball, we gave it right back [to them]," Mets continued.

"I think those are the areas where we either have to win a foul or hold the ball. When we give it right back straight after winning the ball, inevitably we hand the initiative to our opponents. In the overall picture too, there's a lot of room for improvement, but we're happy with the win today."

There were a number of new faces in Henn's squad for the match against the Faroe Islands, and plenty of positives to take away. 22-year-old Alex Matthias Tamm (Nõmme Kalju) scored one goal and picked up an assist, while Edgar Tur (Levadia Tallinn) and Danil Kuraksin (Flora Tallinn) also both opened their accounts for the national team.

"I think there was bound to be an injection of fresh blood at some point. I'm happy that some of the youngsters scored today and got confidence from that," Mets said. "We played as a unit and nobody fell out of sync. I'm really happy for the young guys. [We need to] keep our feet on the ground and keep working."

How would you describe the new head coach? "I'd say Jürgen is definitely very detailed, very good at motivating players and I think he's also very demanding of us."

"We have a pretty good balance," Mets added. "You can't do very much in two days. The structure is in place, the players have a certain amount of freedom, but there are also certain movements that he demands. But we'll keep working, we've only been together for three days now."

Next up is Tuesday's final at the Darius and Girėnas Stadium in Kaunas. Lithuania defeated Latvia 2-0 in their semi-final thanks to goals from Armandas Kučys and Artūr Dolžnikov of FK Kauno Žalgiris.

"Lithuania are playing at home and so, presumably they are the favorites. However, we still want to win the Baltic Cup. We'll build our game on the basis of getting things right defensively first and then let's see," Mets said.

The two defeated semi-finalists, Latvia and the Faroe Islands will also play at 7 p.m. on Wednesday at the Daugava Stadium in Liepaja, Latvia, to determine who finishes third in the tournament.

The final of this year's Baltic Cup can be seen live on ETV 2 on Tuesday June 11 from 6.45 p.m. here.

--

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!