National Teams

What could be better than representing your country as a National Coach? Twice each year, every country in ManagerZone votes to elect a new National Coach. After the elections, each National Coach may choose two assistants to help him or her prepare for the battle for the World Cup.

In this issue of the CrewZone we are going to focus on the 2011 World Cup champions, Estonia.

World Cup 2011

Earlier this summer, the Estonian National Team beat Sweden in the World Cup Final by a score of 4-1. Sweden was highly favoured coming into the final. If you compared the two teams, you would have found that Sweden had a better player at every single spot on the field. However, the Estonian National Team fought extremely hard, and with an excellent tactic the underdogs came out as winners.

Estonia’s National Coach, jumpstyle1, led his team to the title together with two assistants, touz and ozteam.Together they officially crowned their nation as the reigning World Champions. Jumpstyle1 was very pleased with the success and said that “It was a big win for the Estonia community”

The Zone Estonia was kind enough to let us borrow a clip of highlights from the final match. Enjoy!

U21 World Cup Qualifiers predictions

The U21 Estonian team played in Group 1, which included the following teams: U21 Canada – U21 Faroe Islands – U21 Latvia – U21 Pakistan – U21 Poland – U21 Slovenia and U21 Estonia

Poland appeared to be this group’s clear favourite as they were the only team to make it past Group Play in the 2010 U21 World Cup. Poland went all the way to the Quarterfinals in 2010, where they lost to Austria 4-2.

It should not be a surprise that Jumpstyle1 was re-elected as Estonia’s National Coach, but could he make the most of his U21 team as he did with the senior squad?

In the U21 World Cup Qualifiers, Estonia’s qualifying group looked easy on paper, but remember that with only two teams making it to the final, every match was extremely important.

Looking back at the last couple of friendly games it seems like Estonia has found the winning strategy, as they defeated Belarus 6-2 and Slovakia 1-0. This trend continued in the first round of Group Play, where Estonia met Slovenia and won 3-1.

2011-08-13 U21 Estonia vs U21 Slovenia

After a goalless first half, Slovenia was the first to score when Haris Biejec placed the ball between the Estonian goalkeeper’s legs. After that first goal, Estonia took over. Taniel Käbin was the first Estonian player to find the net behind the Slovenian keeper Fedor Duh. Taniel Käbin would score again, and another goal from Enn Leosk made the final result 3-1. The win was well deserved for the home team, as U21 Estonia played much better football throughout the match.

2011-08-16 U21 FO vs U21 Estonia

The Faroe Islands couldn't put together enough players, and therefore lost on walkover (the official result was 5-0).

2011-08-20 U21 Estonia vs U21 Pakistan

Although Pakistan fought well, there was never any doubt over who would take this win. The Estonian team showed that they are a team to be reckoned with by winning 7-1. Estonia now leads Group 1, but have the 3 toughest teams left to play.

2011-08-27 U21 Poland vs U21 Estonia

U21 Estonia’s top scorer Frank Lagle opened the scoring after only 7 minutes when he sent a long distance shot past the U21 Polish keeper. That was the only goal in the first half and the Estonian players took a well deserved breather with a one goal lead. Estonia extended their lead when Albert Vabamäe made it 0-2 in the 61st minute. It looked like Estonia would win the game but Poland made a remarkable comeback when Zdislaw Mietus scored twice in both the 90th and 96th minute making the final score 2-2.

2011-08-30 U21 Estonia vs U21 Canada

Estonia came out strong in this match and the spectators didn’t have to wait long until Frank Lang scored the first goal for Estonia after just 4 minutes of play. Canada which has proven to be a really strong team came back after a poor start and scored 3 consecutive goals to make it 1-3. Estonia pushed forward and got rewarded after Lemuel Rush scored in the 81st minute. But Canada managed to hold the lead and after the final whistle the score was 2-3 and with that result, Canada secured there place in the U21 World Cup with just 1 match left to play. Estonia however was in the third place, 3 points behind U21 Poland who was in second place

2011-03-03 U21 Latvia vs U21 Estonia

For Estonia to qualify for the final stage, they had to win their last qualifier match with at least 3 goals whilst Poland had to lose against Canada by at least 3 goals. Estonia beat Latvia 4-1 and Poland lost to Canada 4-1, meaning Estonia made it to the final stage.

We wish the 32 remaining Nations the best of luck!

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