Sweden vs Estonia

Stelios Kyriakides Stadium sets the stage for an international friendly between Sweden and Estonia.

Sweden brace themselves for life after long-serving manager Janne Andersson called time on his tenure in the wake of the country’s first failed attempt to qualify for the European Championship finals since 1996. Andersson at least signed off in style, guiding ‘Blagult’ to a 2-0 home win against none other than Estonia in their final Euro 2024 qualifying fixture to end a two-game winless run (D1, L1). It was Sweden’s first clean sheet in five internationals, with two of the previous four seeing them concede precisely three goals. However, interim boss Daniel Backstrom won’t lose much sleep over Sweden’s defensive frailties ahead of this contest, knowing the Swedes have won all three matches against Estonia since March 2021 by a combined score of 9-0.

Meanwhile, Estonia’s dreadful H2H form paints a bleak picture for the Baltic minnows, who will be out to arrest a disastrous ten-game winless streak in all competitions (D2, L8). The abovementioned loss in Sweden marked their sixth defeat ‘to nil’ in seven games, offering a fitting end to another embarrassing Euro qualifying campaign. Nailed to the bottom of qualifying Group F, the ‘Blueshirts’ only amassed one point from eight outings (D1, L7), returning an ominous -20 goal difference (GF:2, GA:22). Manager Thomas Haberli would settle for a damage limitation, knowing the Estonians are winless in their last five matches on foreign soil (D1, L4), not to mention scoreless on three occasions during this stretch.