In the first half, Greenland showed good offensive sharpness and Estonia’s goal was shaken by Niklas Sotrup Johansen’s shot in the 3rd minute of the match. Three minutes were enough for the opponents to double the lead against Estonia: Johansen intercepted the ball after an imprecise touch and sent it into an empty net.
Estonia responded in the 11th minute when Artur Bõstrov flicked the puck past the goalie on a free kick. After ten seconds, Rass Abelsen restored Greenland’s two-goal lead. Greenland went into halftime with a 3:1 lead.
In the second half, the Estonian team changed gear, overcame the deficit and scored the main goal of the match. Bõstrov closed the gap for the first time in the 25th minute. In the 30th minute it was Jelissei Zahharov who scored the equalizer, expertly completing Erki Mõttus’ pass. Zakharov was also the player who showed productivity after four minutes and gave Estonia a one-goal lead. 26 seconds before the end of the match, Bõstrov scored a hat-trick and decided the 5:3 victory over Greenland.
Since the goal difference between the teams after two matches was 7:7, the final cup position was determined by a penalty shootout. Estonia achieved a 4:2 victory over Greenland in the decisive penalty shootout and finished the Baltic and Nordic Cup competitions held in Denmark in 5th place.
Team coach Mikko Kytölä is satisfied after today’s match. “I am very happy for the players who managed to come back after the defeat and do the things we talked about here and that we tested in training. Greenland was not an easy opponent for anyone, not for Denmark, not for Norway, nor for us, but we were able to maintain the right attitude, fight well and press them effectively,” Kytölä said.
Kytölä summed up his first competition as head coach of the Estonian indoor team positively. “I am more than satisfied! I don’t pay much attention to the results obtained, but I look at the experience as a whole: how the players received the information or how much they have developed in these days. And I really see great progress in this! The image of the matches played here in Denmark was significantly better than what I had seen in the team’s previous matches during the preliminary work. I understand very well that nothing or a great result can be built in one day, that’s why we work in silence, we give our all in these short windows of the national team and these results will come one day”, summed up Kytölä.
Estonia drew 3:3 against Lithuania in the subgroup of the cup competition, but had to suffer a 1:4 defeat by Latvia. In the first group match Greenland won 4:2, in the second they won 5:3.
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2023-12-18 05:35:00
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